Talen Energy and the River Pointe Logistics team jointly own Slate Belt Holdings LLC, the entity seeking approval to build a data center campus of up to 23 buildings on 754 acres outside Bangor in Upper Mount Bethel Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania. Local outlets Lehigh Valley Live and WFMZ reported the plan, citing a statement from the venture.
Township filings show each of the up to 23 buildings would run 201,500 square feet, alongside a 480MW substation on the site. Slate Belt picked up the 754-acre parcel from River Pointe earlier this year.
A gas plant next door
Talen Energy already runs a 607MW natural gas plant, the Lower Mount Bethel facility, in the adjoining Lower Mount Bethel Township. That plant started operating in 2004. Both townships border New Jersey, roughly 30 miles northeast of Allentown.
River Pointe's own zoning fight
River Pointe purchased the land in 2019 and had marketed it to commercial and industrial developers since then. The firm has pitched a larger version of the site, up to 15 buildings and 6 million square feet (557,418 square meters), next to a 168MW substation. Slate Belt Holdings and River Pointe are now contesting Upper Mount Bethel Township's zoning code, arguing it unlawfully bars data center development.
Amazon looked, then walked
Amazon reportedly weighed developing at River Pointe's own site, a new industrial park built on the former Portland Generating Station property, before dropping the idea over uncertain power availability.
A bigger pattern for Talen
Talen has built data centers since 2021. Its Cumulus Data subsidiary broke ground in 2023 on a hyperscale building and a separate cryptomine facility beside the company's Susquehanna Steam Electric Station nuclear plant. Amazon bought those facilities from Talen in 2024 and is now pursuing a gigawatt-scale campus there. Separately, local officials in Montour County recently denied a Talen request to rezone another parcel for a data center.
