I do think getting a local taxes-paying, at least marginally-job-creating tenant/owner into the behemoth space is a good thing.

But it is clear that there may be vast environmental and social/life costs associated with mega-compute centers. These are not “clean pharma” jobs. And the locals are right to be concerned.

We have long covered Fred Hassan’s legacy white elephant called Kenilworth (and the Merck Whitehouse Station version, too). It was opulent and wildly over-built, from the go. Just like Fast Fred. It sat nearly idle for a decade after the S/P to Merck yard sale, and Google looked at it, but ultimately passed on it.

Now it has new life, with a crypto-cum-AI compute company… struggling itself to retool into a consistently profitable model. Here’s the latest — again thanks to our eagle-eyed commenters:

…A $1.8 billion artificial intelligence data center under construction in Kenilworth is facing pushback from residents.

The project is located at the Northeast Science and Technology Center (NEST) campus. The old Merck & Co. building will house the data center.

CoreWeave, a company that specializes in AI infrastructure, purchased a large portion of property on the campus in 2025 to build the center.

Despite the Kenilworth Borough Council’s approval of the project, it has largely flown under the radar until recently.

“Social media, that’s the only way you’ll hear about it here even though we’re only 200 yards from the location,” said Union County resident Brent Krueger….

That hapless forever money losing company, Riot Platforms (in West Texas) is attempting much the same, as we mentioned yesterday. Wild. Onward, smiling.

नमस्ते