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Riverview Innovation & Technology Campus

Tonawanda, Erie County, NY

ProposedTown SEQRA and site plan review temporarily delayed at the developer's request pending NYISO and National Grid information; the town supervisor called it on hold, the developer says it is not
  1. Rumored
  2. Proposed
  3. Approved
  4. Under construction
  5. Operating

Plans put before the Town of Tonawanda planning board call for a 300MW, 500,000 sq ft data center on the 140-acre former Tonawanda Coke plant at 3875 and 3800 River Road, with up to $2 billion in investment. In June 2026 Town Supervisor John Flynn said the project was on hold after the developer asked to pause its application because of a NYISO backlog; the developer said the project is not on hold but that it has temporarily delayed the town's SEQRA and site plan review while it awaits details from NYISO and National Grid.

Planned capacity
300 MW

Key facts

Size & schedule

Planned capacity300 MW [1]
Source excerpt
“The 140-acre campus, at 3875 and 3800 River Road, formerly the Tonawanda Coke Corp. plant, could be home to a 300MW, 500,000 sq ft (46,450 sqm) data center development”
Site size140 acres [1]
an elected official quoted by WKBW described the former Tonawanda Coke site as '160 acres of legacy pollution' [4]
Source excerpt
“The 140-acre campus, at 3875 and 3800 River Road, formerly the Tonawanda Coke Corp. plant”
Floor area500,000 sq ft [1]
Source excerpt
“could be home to a 300MW, 500,000 sq ft (46,450 sqm) data center development”
Stated investment$2 billion [1]
"up to"; WKBW describes it as a $2B AI data center [4]
Source excerpt
“Up to $2 billion could be invested in the project.”
Target completionEnd of 2027 [1]
as reported in April 2026, before the town review was delayed
Source excerpt
“Construction on the data center could happen concurrently with the environmental cleanup — breaking ground late this year and finishing the project by the end of 2027.”

How big is that? Data center sizes compared with football fields and Central Park.

Power

UtilityNational Grid [2]
developer says it awaits approvals from NYISO and National Grid
Source excerpt
“Riverview Innovation and Technology Campus officials in a statement say they will move forward once they get the necessary approvals from the New York Independent System Operator and National Grid.”
Grid operatorNYISO [3]
Source excerpt
“NYISO's review of the proposed data center's electrical usage is a key tool local governments use in development approvals”

Local decisions & site

Parcel / address3875 and 3800 River Road [1]

Figures are as stated by the cited source. Where sources disagree, each figure is shown.

Timeline

  1. Jon Williams and John Yensan acquire the former Tonawanda Coke site at auction [1]

  2. Plans for a 300MW, 500,000 sq ft data center on the site are before the Town of Tonawanda planning board [1]

  3. Town Supervisor John Flynn says the project is on hold after the developer requested its application be paused because of a backlog at NYISO [3]

  4. Riverview officials say in a statement that the project is not on hold [2]

  5. The developer says it has temporarily delayed SEQRA and site plan review with the Town of Tonawanda Planning Board while it awaits information from NYISO and National Grid [4]

  6. Residents pack a Town of Tonawanda planning board meeting to share concerns about the proposal [4]

Issues raised

  • The site is the former Tonawanda Coke plant; Jon Williams, one of the main developers, has led an estimated $100 million remediation of the site [1][3]
  • The data center developer partnering with the site owners has not been named [1]
  • Residents raised concerns about noise from cooling systems, and one called for a three-year moratorium [4]
  • State lawmakers have proposed a moratorium on new data center permits [3][4]
  • The project would include a planned $50 million electrical substation [4]

Issues are concerns and claims raised by the parties, officials or residents named in the cited sources. They are reported as attributed, not as findings by the Census.

Sources

  1. Former coke plant near Buffalo eyed for 300MW data center
    DatacenterDynamics · Apr 14, 2026 · news
  2. Proposal for data center at former Tonawanda Coke site on hold, town supervisor says
    Spectrum News 1 (Buffalo) · Jun 1, 2026 · news
  3. Data center project at former Tonawanda Coke site 'on hold'
    Buffalo Toronto Public Media (BTPM NPR) · Jun 3, 2026 · news
  4. Town of Tonawanda residents share concerns, frustrations about proposed $2B AI data center on River Road
    WKBW 7 News Buffalo · Jun 4, 2026 · news

Cite this page

Last updated Sep 24, 2026. Figures may change as records are updated — include the date you retrieved them.

APAData Center Census. (2026). Riverview Innovation & Technology Campus. Retrieved from https://datacentercensus.com/dc/riverview-tonawanda-coke-tonawanda-ny
MLA“Riverview Innovation & Technology Campus.” Data Center Census, Sep 24, 2026, https://datacentercensus.com/dc/riverview-tonawanda-coke-tonawanda-ny.
Linkhttps://datacentercensus.com/dc/riverview-tonawanda-coke-tonawanda-ny

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