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JGT2 Redevelopment has revived a $550 million plan to convert a former paper mill in Jay, Maine, into an AI data center. The developer filed an amended site location permit and an air emissions license application with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, the Bangor Daily News reported. JGT2 published a public notice of intent on Nov. 8, according to Data Center Dyn
Featured: Wide-angle news photograph of the Jay paper mill site, highlighting the industrial campus planned for data center redevelopment.amics. The filing reverses a June halt that Sentinel Data Centers triggered, when the New York operator told Jay officials it would not proceed.
The project would occupy roughly 1 million square feet of the former Androscoggin Mill, which closed in 2023. JGT2 owns the mill and is redeveloping it. Sentinel would operate the data center under an agreement that is not final, Jay Town Manager Shiloh LaFreniere told a Select Board meeting on Nov. 9, the Maine Monitor reported.
Under the filings, JGT2 would reuse existing mill buildings for computing equipment and add a subsurface wastewater system, Maine Public reported. The company would convert the former parking lot and rail yard to hold heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment. The air permit covers two 3.25 MW diesel standby generators for emergency power. The center would draw on an existing 82 MW power contract the mill held, developer Tony McDonald told the Maine Monitor, and its cooling system would run in a closed loop. The redesign reuses about 260,000 gallons of water, down from an original 300,000 gallons per day.
McDonald said the two companies never stopped working on the project, and that Sentinel has since signed a new customer. He described a "neo compute" model in which 100 or more smaller customers share the facility instead of one hyperscaler. A single permit amendment would cover the mill and 93 adjacent residential properties that the former owners assembled.
The revival comes weeks before a new Legislature convenes under Governor-elect Hannah Pingree, who has said she would sign a ban on new data centers. Maine lawmakers approved a temporary moratorium bill in April, but Governor Janet Mills vetoed it, citing the Jay project.
"Jay deserves good jobs and investment at the mill site, but not at the cost of ratepayers, neighbors or the environment," Pingree said in a statement. She added that Jay should not be "the testing ground" for data centers before Maine has strong regulations.
JGT2 has tentatively scheduled a public meeting at the mill site for Dec. 10 to discuss water use, electricity and the local economy. The Portland Press Herald reported the project could create up to 1,000 construction jobs and 150 permanent positions.
Baxtel tracks 13 data center facilities across Maine, operated by 10 providers. The largest is CENTRA's 340 Cumberland site in Portland at 3 MW.
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