By Josh McKnight | The McKnight Team
Three Montgomery County municipalities are fighting over the same question at the same time. Plymouth Township, Upper Merion, and Norristown are each dealing with proposed AI data center development, and in all three the developer is Brian O’Neill.
Every Montgomery County data center proposal on the table right now traces back to him. Hundreds of residents have packed meetings. Two of the three votes have gone against the projects so far. This is now the most active land use fight in the county.
Where Each Proposal Stands Right Now
In Plymouth Township, O’Neill wants a 2 million square foot data center on the shuttered Cleveland-Cliffs steel mill site at 900 Conshohocken Road. Council Chair Lynne Viscio accused him of bullying officials and called his zoning challenge a tantrum. O’Neill calls that a bold-faced lie and says he has agreed to most of the township’s conditions.
In Upper Merion, the planning commission voted unanimously on July 22 against recommending three of five proposals, part of a 4.6 million square foot plan to convert office buildings on Horizon Drive and Renaissance Boulevard. Commissioners called the application rushed and incomplete. Hundreds of residents attended. One person spoke in favor. The last two proposals go to hearing on August 12.
Norristown council tabled a vote on an ordinance regulating these facilities by conditional use in the Heavy Industrial District, covering emissions, noise, setbacks, and decommissioning.
What a Montgomery County Data Center Actually Does to Nearby Home Values
The evidence is thinner than either side claims, and the effect depends almost entirely on distance and on what stood there before.
Studies of large industrial and data center development generally find measurable price effects within roughly a half mile, and very little past one mile. The mechanisms are cooling system noise, construction traffic, and visual impact. The counterweight is tax revenue, because a facility like this pays substantial property tax without adding a student to a school district or a car to your morning commute.
Two of these three sites are also not open land. Plymouth Township is a closed steel mill. Upper Merion is existing office buildings. The comparison in front of these townships is not a data center against a farm field. It is a data center against a vacant industrial site or an empty office park, and empty office parks drag on nearby values too.
Here is your market today, before any of this is settled. The typical home value in Plymouth Meeting is $557,998, up 2.8% over the past year, per Zillow data through June 30, 2026, with just 24 homes for sale at the end of June. King of Prussia sits at $515,085, up 3.4%, with a median sale price of $493,667 in May 2026 and homes going to pending in about eight days. Norristown is at $344,717, up 2.0%, with a median sale price of $313,500 in May 2026.
None of those markets is showing stress. All three are short on supply.
Why the Ordinance Fight Matters More Than Any Single Project
Most homeowners tracking the Montgomery County data center fight are watching the wrong room. Individual applications get decided and then appealed, and that takes years. The zoning language decides what gets built here for the next two decades.
Norristown is the clearest example. Council did not reject its ordinance. It tabled the vote to fold in comments from the local and county planning commissions, including a warning that unrealistic acreage requirements could invite a legal challenge, and a call to clearly separate a true data center from a building that happens to hold server equipment. That second point sounds like a technicality. It is not. A vague definition is what lets a project through under a different name.
An ordinance written badly and then beaten in court is worse than no ordinance, because the township loses the pending ordinance protection it has right now.
If you own within a mile of any of these sites, the meeting you want is the ordinance hearing, not the project hearing. Those rooms are far emptier and your comment carries much more weight in them.
What This Means for You
If you own near one of these sites, do not list in a panic and do not assume your value is impaired. Nothing has been approved. A buyer today prices your home on commute, condition, and comparable sales, not on a project that may never break ground.
If you are buying in this corridor, have your agent pull the parcel history and current zoning on anything within a mile of Conshohocken Road, Horizon Drive, or Renaissance Boulevard. That is a ten-minute check and you want it before you write an offer, not after. Buyers looking at this part of the county can start with our Plymouth Township page for what the Montgomery County real estate market looks like there right now.
Thinking about buying or selling in Plymouth Township, Upper Merion, or Norristown? Let’s talk.
Frequently Asked Questions About Data Centers and Montgomery County Home Values
Do data centers lower property values?
No Montgomery County data center has been approved yet. Measurable effects generally show up within about a half mile and fade past a mile. Distance and the prior use of the site matter more than the facility itself. Two of the three Montgomery County sites are a closed steel mill and existing office buildings, not open land.
Where are the proposed data centers in Montgomery County?
Plymouth Township at 900 Conshohocken Road on the former Cleveland-Cliffs steel mill site, Upper Merion on Horizon Drive and Renaissance Boulevard, and a proposed regulating ordinance in Norristown’s Heavy Industrial District.
Have any of the Montgomery County data centers been approved?
No. Upper Merion’s planning commission declined to recommend three of five proposals on July 22, with two more going to hearing August 12. Plymouth Township council continues to oppose the application. Norristown tabled its ordinance vote.
Should I still buy a home near a proposed data center?
Nothing has been approved, so the risk is speculative rather than actual. Pull the parcel history and current zoning for anything within a mile before writing an offer, and price that uncertainty into your terms rather than walking away from a house you want.
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