Data Center Registry

Markley Group One Lowell Data Center

Lowell, Middlesex County, Massachusetts · All 2 Markley Group sites

OperatingIn litigationAI mixed useRecord updated October 28, 2026

Markley Group One Lowell Data Center is an operating data center in Lowell, Massachusetts (Middlesex County), operated by Markley Group. The public record puts it at announced January 2015, 50 MW planned, 14 acres, a reported $350 million investment. It is or has been the subject of litigation over its siting, permitting, or operation.

Every line on this page traces to a public source listed at the bottom. Where a figure was looked for and not found, the row says so. A blank is never a zero.

Facility record

Operating

Operator: Markley Group
Facility type: Data center, AI use mixed
Location: 2 Prince Ave, Lowell, Middlesex County, MA, 01852
Coordinates: 42.6334, -71.3162 (approximate)
Power capacity: 50 MW planned
Land: 14 acres
Investment: $350 million
Announced: January 2015
Utility: Grid; 27 on-site diesel backup generators
Power source: Grid
Cooling: Evaporative
Water use: Not established from a public source
Jobs: Not established from a public source
Public subsidy: 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
Community reception: In litigation
Source confidence: Confirmed by multiple independent sources or official documentation

Timeline from the record

Newest first. Record entries come from the filings and reports the registry cites. Coverage entries are headlines from publisher feeds we monitor daily, linked to the outlet; last checked September 14, 2026.

April 2026
Operating
Lowell City Council passes one-year moratorium on data center construction and expansion; residents file first Massachusetts data center lawsuit Source: Boston.com
July 2025
Operating
Massachusetts DEP approves air permit for 8 additional diesel generators (27 total); residents appeal permit Source: Boston.com
January 2016
Operating
Markley Group One Lowell data center opens on site of former Prince Spaghetti factory; 352,000 sq ft, largest data center in Massachusetts Source: Boston.com

Opposition and litigation at this site

Yes. Markley Group One Lowell Data Center in Lowell, Middlesex County, Massachusetts is or has been the subject of litigation over its siting, permitting, or operation. 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.

How the community has taken it

Reception is a sourced signal, not an editorial judgment: in litigation means the facility is or has been the subject of a lawsuit related to its siting, permitting, or operation.

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.

Source: Boston.com

Power and water

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.

16 evaporative cooling towers, Merrimack River-sourced. Markley said that over the past year it used between 60,000 and 120,000 gallons of water per day (0.06-0.12 MGD), figures that WBZ-TV found matched some of the water bills it obtained - far below hyperscale AI campuses. As of October 2026, no single measured daily figure is recorded.

Public money on the record

Program	Amount	Granted by	Year
Lowell 20-year property & personal-property tax abatement (~$77M in foregone city taxes over 20 yrs; ~$12M net to the city)	Not established	City of Lowell, MA	2015

Notes on the record

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). In September 2024, Markley executive vice president Jeff Flanagan said the company is committed to investing more than $350 million in the Lowell data center, of which more than $225 million had already been developed (The Sun of Lowell, via GovTech). The investment figure recorded here is that stated floor of $350 million. Massachusetts' 2024 sales-tax exemption is statutory eligibility, not a confirmed Markley award.

What the record does not establish, and the document that would

In every fight on our tracker the decisive fact came out of a public records request. These are the requests for this site.

Permanent jobs promised

Which document closes each gap

Permanent jobs promised: The economic development application or incentive agreement, which usually states a job commitment and a clawback.

Have one of these documents? Send it to us and we will add it to the record with attribution.

Other sites within 30 miles

Distances are between recorded coordinates, many of which are a city or county centroid, so treat them as approximate. Cumulative load on one utility and one aquifer is the question a planning commission rarely asks.

TierPoint Boston - Andover · Andover · TierPoint7 mi · Operating
Equinix BO2 - Boston, Billerica · Billerica · Equinix8 mi · Operating
EdgeConneX Boston (EDCBOS01) · Billerica · EdgeConneX8 mi · Operating · 4.5 MW
Csquare BOS1 (Waltham) · Waltham · Csquare (formerly Centersquare)17 mi · Operating
Equinix BO1 · Waltham · Equinix17 mi · Operating
Cogent Boston Data Center (Waltham) · Waltham · Cogent Communications17 mi · Operating
Expedient Boston · Medford · Expedient20 mi · Operating
Csquare BOS4 (Watertown) · Watertown · Csquare (formerly Centersquare)20 mi · Operating

Tell us about your situation

Living near Markley Group One Lowell Data Center?

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Questions people ask about this site

Is there opposition to the Markley Group One Lowell Data Center in Lowell?

Has anyone filed a lawsuit over the Markley Group One Lowell Data Center?

Yes. This site is recorded as being in litigation. The case, the court, and the filings we hold are listed on this page under the timeline and the sources.

How much water does Markley Group One Lowell Data Center use?

No water withdrawal figure for Markley Group One Lowell Data Center is on record here. Cooling is recorded as evaporative, which is the strongest available clue: closed loop and air cooled plant draw far less than evaporative cooling. We leave the number blank rather than estimate one.

Who operates Markley Group One Lowell Data Center, and how big is it?

Markley Group is the operator on record. We hold 2 sites for that company across the registry. Capacity on record is 50 MW. The site is recorded at 14 acres.

How to cite this page

SueDataCenters.org Data Center Registry, "Markley Group One Lowell Data Center," updated October 28, 2026, https://suedatacenters.org/data-centers/markley-lowell-ma.

Facility data from Compute Atlas (E. Kubiak), version 1.34.1 (October 4, 2026), licensed CC BY 4.0, record https://www.compute-atlas.com/facilities/markley-lowell-ma, retrieved October 29, 2026.

Corrections with a public source are welcome at the Compute Atlas record or through our contact page. The whole registry is available as CSV and JSON under CC BY 4.0.

Sources for this record

As compiled and cited by Compute Atlas, with our own reporting appended. Archived links are used where the original has moved.

1.Lowell Residents File Massachusetts' First Lawsuit Against a Data Center · Boston.com · retrieved July 6, 2026
2.Lessons From Lowell: How a Data Center's Expansion Has Choked a Small Town · The Harvard Crimson · retrieved July 6, 2026
3.Take a rare look inside the largest data center in Massachusetts · CBS Boston · retrieved July 7, 2026
4.The Dungeon Over Lowell: How the Data Center Boom Divided One City's Working People · Working Mass · retrieved July 7, 2026
5.Markley Building Out 50MW Boston-Metro Data Center · Data Center Knowledge · retrieved October 6, 2026
6.Massachusetts Residents Protest Data Farm Expansion · GovTech · retrieved October 6, 2026
7.PeeringDB Massachusetts facility list (fac 3096: Markley Group Lowell) · PeeringDB · retrieved October 24, 2026
8.Proposed data centers subjected to local approvals under Gov. Healey's order · WBUR · retrieved October 24, 2026

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