Feb 3

2025

Prospect of huge subsidies for data center at STAMP

Tax breaks approaching a half-billion dollars — with more likely coming from the state — work out to as much as $3.9 million per job. Residents voice opposition at public hearings.

Around 50 people gathered at the Alabama fire hall for a series of public hearings about a data center locating at STAMP. Photo by J. Dale Shoemaker.


TOWN OF ALABAMA — Three data centers vying to build at the STAMP industrial park in rural Genesee County are seeking subsidies worth anywhere from $838,000 to $3.9 million per job.

The proposals were the subject of three public hearings Monday at which about two dozen nearby residents voiced their strong opposition.

Concerns ran the gamut: Some speakers said data centers — via water runoff and noise — would harm the surrounding environment, which includes Tonawanda Seneca Nation territory as well as state and federally protected lands. Others said they opposed the tax breaks and still others aimed their ire at the IDA for holding such hearings in the middle of a Monday afternoon when most people are at work.

Sarah Howard, a consultant for the Tonawanda Senecas, said Nation members fear air pollution from diesel engines, water pollution from runoff and the constant noise that 24/7 data centers are known to emit.

“A data center being placed at STAMP would have a transformative impact on the neighbors of this site and the most immediate neighbors are the Tonawanda Seneca Nation,” Howard said.

The data centers would be sprawling, covering as much land as up to 15 football fields. They would also require a vast amount of electricity to power servers, meaning discounted hydropower from the New York Power Authority is a strong likelihood. 

One data center developer is seeking $472 million in tax breaks and says the project will create 122 positions — equal to $3.9 million per job.

Another developer wants $238.9 million in exchange for 105 jobs — or $2.3 million per job.

The third developer wants $167.6 million in exchange for 200 jobs — equivalent to $838,000 per position.

The subsidies do not include any assistance from the state or discounted hydropower from NYPA. Other projects at STAMP have received both. 

The subsidies, if granted, would come on top of about $100 million in state funding the Genesee County IDA has spent to prepare the industrial park for occupancy. 



The IDA will accept only one of the proposals, according to President and CEO Mark Masse. The agency’s board of directors could also reject all three developers, he said.

It’s not clear who the ultimate user of a data center would be. Each developer is proposing to build the facility and lease the server capacity to one or more technology companies. Tom Wasko said his firm, PRP Real Estate Investment, typically leases data centers to firms like Microsoft, Meta or Amazon. PRP is behind Project Rampart.

He and another developer said the data centers could be used by companies developing artificial intelligence programs.

That point alone caused consternation at a series of public hearings Monday.

“Hardly any jobs would be offered to local residents and AI is predicted to result in massive job loss for blue-collar workers,” said Dr. Kirk Scirto, a doctor for the Tonawanda Seneca Nation. 

“This would mean millions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies funding one to three parasitic centers that would actually harm taxpayers and take away their jobs, he said.

Project details

The proposals — and the incentive packages — break down like so:

STREAM U.S. Data Centers, LLC

  • Size: 900,000 square feet 
  • Cost to build: $6.32 billion
  • Tax breaks requested: $472 million (sales and mortgage tax exemptions)
  • Jobs: 122 (paying an average of $89,000 annually)
  • Cost per job: $3.9 million per job

STREAM’s project would pay an average of $6.4 million in property taxes to municipalities and school districts per year. The tax breaks would cost the state and local governments $236 million each in lost potential revenue.

IDA documents state STREAM would contribute an estimated $2 million per year, over 20 years, in sales tax revenue and payments to the local fire district. STREAM would also pay $50 million to finish building out the electric substation under construction at STAMP. 

Project Rampart, LLC

  • Size: 750,000 square feet 
  • Cost to build: $3.3 billion
  • Tax breaks requested: $239 million (sales and mortgage tax exemptions)
  • Jobs: 105 (paying $64,000 annually on average)
  • Cost per job: $2.28 million per job.
  • Project Rampart’s project would pay an average of $4.7 million in property taxes to municipalities and school districts annually. The tax breaks would cost the state and local governments $119.5 million each in lost potential revenue.

IDA documents show Project Rampart would contribute $3.6 million in sales tax revenue and “community host” payments over 20 years. It would pay $40 million towards the substation.

Potentia Holdings, LLC

  • Size: 892,000 square feet 
  • Cost to build: $2.2 billion
  • Tax breaks requested: $167.6 million (sales and property tax exemptions)
  • Jobs: 200 (paying $129,000 annually)
  • Cost per job: $838,244 per job

Under a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement involving discounted property taxes, Potentia Holdings would contribute $2.1 million each year in payments to local governments and the Oakfield-Alabama School District.  The 20-year PILOT would reduce revenues to schools and local governments by $1.7 million each year. 

IDA records show Potentia would make payments totaling $3 million annually for 20 years in the form of sales taxes, community grants, fire district contributions and “county host” fees. It would pay $39 million for the substation. 

By comparison, subsidies for a data center built in Lockport around 2010 and later expanded totaled $478 million and involved 200 jobs in 2015. The subsidies worked out to $2.4 million per job. The data center project received another round of subsidies, worth $17.3 million, in 2023.

“Anytime we see subsidies in excess of $100,000 per job, much less $2 million, it’s fair to say that taxpayers will never break even on those deals,” Greg LeRoy, a national subsidy expert and executive director of Good Jobs First, said at the time.

Data centers in context

The IDA’s consideration of the data center proposals comes after Wasko’s firm last year alleged the agency wasn’t giving its pitch a fair shake. Wasko at the time alleged the IDA was unfairly considering another data center proposal instead of his.

The IDA, according to a recording of a private meeting Wasko shared with Investigative Post, only wanted one data center, if any, and felt it should start entertaining proposals due to issues with its electric substation. 

Plug Power, the first tenant committed to STAMP, was originally supposed to pay to build the substation. Construction paused as Plug Power ran into financial trouble. The IDA, an official explained on the surreptitious recording, was looking to other firms to pay to finish construction. 

The consideration of data centers comes as the IDA struggles to fill the 1,250-acre industrial park located north of Batavia.


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Site selectors familiar with STAMP previously told Investigative Post that the industrial park’s remote location makes attracting companies with large workforces difficult but that data centers may find the site attractive.

“If you have a data center, which is oftentimes a potential tenant for a megasite, you need a lot of people to build it, but you don’t need a lot of people to run it,” said Jerry Szatan, founder of the site selection consulting firm Szatan & Associates. “They’re probably more willing to go to rural areas.”

Economic development experts argue subsidizing data centers isn’t necessary.

Firms building such facilities “look for places with cheap electricity and a lot of inexpensive land that is free from natural disasters. Subsidies come at the end of the process, after a location is already chosen,” Kasia Tarczynska, a senior research analyst with Good Jobs First, told Investigative Post.

“This means that the data center industry is extracting millions of public dollars from state and local governments for investments that they would do without subsidies,” she said.

Residents opposed

Residents, advocates and members of the Tonawanda Seneca Nation argued Monday at the public hearings that a data center was a bad fit at STAMP.

Katie Rivers said she lives near STAMP and worried about “constant ringing, 24/7” from a data center’s power and cooling systems.

“This will not be beneficial to anyone in the town,” she said. “It’s just very harmful to everyone and the wildlife. It’s like you’ve all been bamboozled.”

Melissa Smith, a member of the Tonawanda Seneca Nation, said STAMP and a data center run counter to the Nation’s aim to preserve and protect the environment.

She and other Nation members have previously told Investigative Post they use a forest that borders the STAMP site — called the Big Woods — for hunting and gathering medicine. Nation members worry that development at STAMP could harm the forest and thus their lives.

“[You have] no respect for all these people, no respect for the Nation,” she admonished the IDA and the data center developers. “It’s terrible.”

Investigative Post