This is a source-attributed discovery row. It can help you find a place and its citations; it is not a DataCenterData finding that the facility is distinct or currently operating.
Reported geography
Source-reported location for Markley Group One Lowell Data Center.
Approximate source coordinates; this is not a parcel claim. Nearby source points are combined into one accessible target that opens this exact map scope. View these exact rows on the interactive map →
Source row snapshot
- Operator as published
- Markley Group
- Address and locality
- 2 Prince Ave · Lowell · Middlesex County · Massachusetts
- Official metro area
- Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH
- Source-reported status
- operational
- Provider facility type
- data center
- Reported capacity
- Planned: 50 MW (source-reported; boundary not independently verified; MW measure not stated by provider)
- Source freshness
- 6 October 2026
- Location precision
- approximate (provider label: exact; the provider's own note describes an approximate location)
- Compute Atlas confidence label
- confirmed (provider's classification; not a DataCenterData check)
- Stable directory ID
dcd-dir-000912
Reported details
Source-reported by Compute Atlas; not independently verified by DataCenterData. Provider wording is kept; long provider notes are shortened and marked …; unknown is not zero; none of these values is totaled, ranked or compared.
- Power supply description
- Grid; 27 on-site diesel backup generators
- Power source
- Grid
- Cooling
- Evaporative
- Reported water use
- 0.12 million gallons per day (source-reported)
- Land area
- 14 acres (source-reported; parcel boundary not established)
- Announced investment
- $350 million
- Community response
- Provider label: litigation
- AI-use label (provider)
- mixed use
- Announced
- January 2015
Incentives reported by the source
Whether each incentive was approved, awarded or received is not established.
- Lowell 20-year property & personal-property tax abatement (~$77M in foregone city taxes over 20 yrs; ~$12M net to the city) · City of Lowell, MA · 2015 Open cited source →
Provider notes
Energy. 27 diesel generators (expanded from 7 original; 8 added in 2025 via DEP air permit); 16 cooling towers. Expansion moratorium passed by Lowell City Council April 2026.
Water. 16 evaporative cooling towers, Merrimack River-sourced. Markley self-reports daily use of 60,000-120,000 gallons (0.06-0.12 MGD), peaking ~118,000 gpd in summer, corroborated by WBZ-TV water-bill records - far below hyperscale AI campuses.
Community. Massachusetts' first data center lawsuit filed April 27, 2026 in Middlesex County Superior Court by Honest Future for Lowell (10 plaintiffs) represented by Yale Law School Environmental Justice Clinic, Fitch Law Partners, and Conservation Law Foundation. Plaintiffs allege unlawful permitting; facility sits 84 feet from closest diesel engine to residential properties. Sacred Heart and Back Central neighborhoods are designated environmental justice communities. One-year moratorium on expansion passed by Lowell City Council.
What the source record says
Coordinates are approximate city centroid (Sacred Heart/Back Central neighborhoods, Lowell). Facility serves 100+ customers including hospitals, universities, and police departments. Expansion includes land purchases by Markley near old power plant. Expansion plans stalled by moratorium. AI demand cited as driver of expansion since 2022. Delivered permanent-job counts are disputed - the abatement promised 100 jobs; the city and critics count ~26-30 full-time local workers while Markley cites ~100 total, with construction peaking ~120 (IBEW Local 103); recorded as unresolved (honest-zero). No confirmed total capital-investment figure is public ('hundreds of millions'). Massachusetts' 2024 sales-tax exemption is statutory eligibility, not a confirmed Markley award.
Any MW value is reproduced as source-reported context. Its measurement boundary is not established consistently enough for comparison. Unknown is not zero.
Status history supplied by the source
- 2016-01 · source-reported operational
Markley Group One Lowell data center opens on site of former Prince Spaghetti factory; 352,000 sq ft, largest data center in Massachusetts
- 2025-07 · source-reported operational
Massachusetts DEP approves air permit for 8 additional diesel generators (27 total); residents appeal permit
- 2026-04 · source-reported operational
Lowell City Council passes one-year moratorium on data center construction and expansion; residents file first Massachusetts data center lawsuit
Sources and attribution
These sources are listed for the whole row. Unless a figure links to its own source, the provider does not mark which one gave it, so a figure may not appear in every source.
- Lowell Residents File Massachusetts' First Lawsuit Against a Data Center · Boston.com
- Lessons From Lowell: How a Data Center's Expansion Has Choked a Small Town · The Harvard Crimson
- Take a rare look inside the largest data center in Massachusetts · CBS Boston
- The Dungeon Over Lowell: How the Data Center Boom Divided One City's Working People · Working Mass
- Markley Building Out 50MW Boston-Metro Data Center · Data Center Knowledge
- Massachusetts Residents Protest Data Farm Expansion · GovTech
Adapted from Compute Atlas by Edward Kubiak, edition 1.34.1, under CC BY 4.0. Upstream ID markley-lowell-ma. Filtered to data-center records in the 50 U.S. states; selected fields normalized for search and display; DataCenterData directory IDs added. Some locations in this layer are reported by the provider as derived from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL, https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright) and Epoch AI (CC BY 4.0).
Compute Atlas 1.34.1 with retained prior rows and publication holds. This is a DataCenterData composite, not an unmodified publisher edition. This row uses the captured source from 1.34.1, source as of 2026-10-14T20:40:52.293Z.
That does not mean the row is wrong, and it does not mean no reviewed record exists for the same place. A link is added only when an identifier or source establishes the match.
Recorded information
What this page records, grouped by topic, with the source's units and qualifications. Company-reported values stay labeled as company-reported. Related listings are shown separately.
Licensed directory listing dcd-dir-000912
Licensed directory row.
Provider notes and the source narrative are printed on this page and are not repeated here.
Identity and relationships
- Provider facility type: data center
Provider facility type.
- AI-use label (provider): mixed use
Compute Atlas classification, not a DataCenterData finding.
Location and precision
- 2 Prince Ave, Lowell, MA · Middlesex (Approximate location)
Roles
- Operator: Markley Group
Operator label as published by the provider; no parent company is inferred.
Lifecycle
- Source-stated status: source-reported operational
Provider status label; not a DataCenterData finding that the facility is operating.
- Announced: January 2015
Provider-reported announcement date.
- Status history: 2016-01 · source-reported operational
Status history supplied by the source.
- Status history: 2025-07 · source-reported operational
Status history supplied by the source.
- Status history: 2026-04 · source-reported operational
Status history supplied by the source.
Area, acreage and buildings
- Land area: 14 acres (source-reported; parcel boundary not established)
Power capacity
- Reported capacity: Planned: 50 MW (source-reported; boundary not independently verified; MW measure not stated by provider)
Reproduced as the page prints it; not ranked or totaled; unknown is not zero.
- Power supply description: Grid; 27 on-site diesel backup generators
Provider’s own description of the power supply; no separate utility field was supplied.
- Power source: Grid
Provider label.
Cooling, water, PUE and WUE
- Cooling: Evaporative
Provider label.
- Reported water use: 0.12 million gallons per day (source-reported)
Whether this is metered use, a permit limit or a request is not established; see the provider water note.
Permits, incentives, jobs and proceedings
- Announced investment: $350 million
Announced figure; whether it covers one building, a campus or a multi-phase program is not established.
- Community response: Provider label: litigation
Compute Atlas characterization, not a DataCenterData assessment.
- Incentive reported by the source: Lowell 20-year property & personal-property tax abatement (~$77M in foregone city taxes over 20 yrs; ~$12M net to the city) · City of Lowell, MA · 2015
Whether the incentive was approved, awarded or received is not established.
Sources, dates, limitations and corrections
- Provider update date: 2026-10-06
Provider update date is not a DataCenterData verification date.
Not yet recorded here: Connectivity · Services · Certifications and design ratings · Rack density · Availability · Specification links and contact.
Licensed values: adapted from Compute Atlas by Edward Kubiak under CC BY 4.0. Source-reported and not independently verified.
Update this profile with a public source. The request includes topics needing more information; this does not mean the facility lacks them. Corrections and additions are reviewed before publication.