Patrick A. Haggerty Discusses Rapid Expansion of AI Data Centers with Law360 “Real Estate Attys 'Not Going In Blind' Amid Data Center Boom”
Patrick A. Haggerty, co-chair of the firm’s Commercial Real Estate practice, was quoted in a Law360 article titled, “Real Estate Attys 'Not Going In Blind' Amid Data Center Boom.” The article discusses the rapid growth of AI data centers in the United States. Lawyers say developers are using lessons from past large projects and working with local communities to plan for the long term and are becoming more flexible about where they build, sometimes considering less traditional locations.
Pat Haggerty, co-chair of the real estate practice at New Jersey's Pashman Stein Walder Hayden PC, noted that the United States is unique in its desire for data centers, with nearly two-thirds of the data center occupancy in the world housed in the U.S. With so many considerations for developers, Haggerty said clients are getting more flexible about where they want to build.
"Sometimes it's not your traditional location right in or outside a metro center," he said. "It could be a location that might not have been considered a prime development location, if there's an area where there is space to develop, and it has the right data grid, and the right municipality."
Citing his own state, Haggerty said that companies are looking at places like Bayonne, which is not thought to be as attractive as a place like Jersey City, but might be more welcoming for this type of development.
Haggerty also cited ongoing costs as a major future challenge, made more difficult by the relative nascence of the technology.
"It's a new trend, and we don't have many years of history here to forecast expenses, particularly energy costs," he said. "It's constantly evolving, [and] there will be a lot of changes and a lot of new things to come."
To read the full article in Law360, click here.
