Central Ohio data center sites: one conditional fit (Smart Farm, New Albany, 113.5 acres), no site with confirmed 50 MW

Interpretation and result

Interpretation: Hard filters are 20+ acres, 50 MW deliverable within 3 years, fiber on or near site, outside the FEMA 100-year flood zone, and within 10 miles of an interstate. Exclusions are residential zoning and asking prices above $150,000 per acre. The area is Franklin, Licking and Delaware counties, Ohio. Data centers weigh power, substations and fiber most. I did not reach county GIS, assessor, FEMA or utility maps, so no row below is verified at the official record. Date of review: 5 October 2026.

Result: One active site qualifies on paper: Smart Farm in New Albany, listed at 113.5 acres with zoning that permits data centers. Its price, 50 MW capacity, fiber, flood status and interstate distance are all Unverified. Two other leads cannot be ranked with confidence. Three further sites are near misses.

Ranked candidates

Rank	Site (address/parcel ID)	Acreage/size	Zoning	Utilities (power, water, fiber)	Access	Risks	Listing status/price	Criteria met/unmet	Sources
1	"Smart Farm", 4500 Beech Road NW, New Albany OH (Licking County side). Parcel ID: Unverified	113.5 acres (listing; assessor figure not checked)	L-GE, which the listing says permits data centers	Power: AEP is the utility; capacity "available to qualified parties upon request", so MW is Unverified; transmission and distribution described as adjacent. Water: 24" line and 36" sewer extension "in place or under construction". Fiber: Unverified	Frontage on US-62, Beech Road and Green Chapel Road. Interstate distance: Unverified	Developer sought an Ohio EPA permit to fill about 2 acres of wetlands, plus streams. Flood: Unverified. Entitlement: described as fully entitled, not checked against municipal record	For sale or joint venture; no price shown (seen 5 Oct 2026)	Acreage: Met (listing). Zoning/no residential: Met (listing). Price: Unverified. 50 MW in 3 years: Unverified. Fiber: Unverified. Flood: Unverified. Interstate: Unverified	Karis listing; Reporting Project, 23 Jan 2026
2	Karis Critical CMH LLC land, Prairie Township, Franklin County. Parcel ID: Not found	127 acres bought (developable area estimated lower)	Unverified	Power: a 90 MW figure appears only as an estimate. Water, fiber: Unverified	Unverified	Big Darby Accord amendment pending; Hamilton Run reduces developable area	Not listed for sale; owner-held	Acreage: Met on gross acres. Everything else Unverified	Campaign tracker, low confidence
3	"Data Center Opportunity", Industrial Parkway, Jerome Township OH 43064 (JLL listing 746141). Parcel ID: Not found	160 acres	"Fully entitled" per listing; district Unverified	Unverified	Unverified	County not stated in the listing, so it may be outside the search area	Listed; price on request	Acreage: Met. Location in area: Unverified. All else Unverified	JLL listing

Top three

Smart Farm (rank 1): It is the only active listing I found that pairs 20+ acres with zoning stated to permit data centers. The listing says it is shovel-ready in under 6 to 8 months and shows no price. The Reporting Project describes an 8-building, roughly 1.6 million square foot proposal on about 114 acres at Beech and Green Chapel roads, so a proposal already exists for it. Biggest open risk: power. The listing gives no capacity figure, and a site cannot show 50 MW within 3 years without an AEP study.
Prairie Township land (rank 2): The source is a campaign issue tracker, so treat it as a lead only. It reports 127 acres bought in December 2024 for $2 million. Biggest open risk: the pending Big Darby Accord amendment and no evidence the owner would sell (my inference).
Jerome Township 160 acres (rank 3): 160 acres, price on request. Biggest open risk: the listing does not name the county, and Jerome Township is not confirmed to sit in the search area. This is my reading of a gap, not a finding.

Power is the gating item

AEP Ohio's data center tariff, effective 23 July 2025, requires a PowerClerk application and a load study fee for requests of 25,000 kW or more. The fees are $10,000 for more than 25 to under 50 MW, $50,000 for 50 to under 100 MW, and $100,000 for 100 MW or more. Studies take 45 or 60 days. Cancellation, or a delay of more than 12 months, requires 100% reimbursement of buildout costs. The load ramp is at most 4 years, at 50%, 65%, 80% and 90%.

Timing matters. Applications for 2026 Study Tranche Two were due 30 September 2026, with studies starting 1 October 2026. That deadline passed five days ago. The energization date is set in the electric service agreement and depends on regional transmission upgrades. My inference: the 3-year power criterion cannot be confirmed for any site until a study and agreement exist, so every row stays Unverified on that point.

Near misses

0 Troy Road, Delaware OH (147.194 acres, 7 tracts): Sold for $4,468,809.84, or $30,360 per acre, at auction on 11 August 2026, so it is no longer available. The listing puts I-71 about 12 miles away, which fails the 10-mile test. Sewer was stubbed about 1.5 miles away.
Duncan Plains and Edwards Roads, Johnstown (146.77 acres, Licking parcel 052-173844-00.000): Parcels 3 to 5 are R1 residential, which breaches the exclusion. It also has AEP transmission and gas pipeline easements. The auction was cancelled after the seller accepted a pre-auction offer.
AWS proposal, Delaware County: A 600 MW proposal, not a site for sale. Substation distances on that page are third-party estimates.

Do next

Pull the Licking County assessor and GIS record for 4500 Beech Road NW to confirm parcel ID, owner, acreage and the New Albany zoning district.
Check the FEMA flood map for the Smart Farm and Prairie Township parcels.
Ask Karis for the asking price and its AEP study status, then check price against the $150,000 per acre cap.
Check whether any AEP load study or electric service agreement exists for these sites, or plan an application in the next tranche.
Identify the county and parcel for the JLL Industrial Parkway listing, and confirm it is inside the three counties.
Map fiber routes and measure road distance to the nearest interstate for each remaining candidate.

Coverage

I did not reach county GIS or assessor viewers, the FEMA flood map, municipal zoning maps, utility service maps or public broadband maps. Two lead sources were not read: a Bizjournals article on Licking County land listed for $20 million (blocked) and an Eden Park offering memorandum (file too large). Commercial listing platforms such as LoopNet and Crexi were not searched in depth, so the list is likely incomplete. These rankings are recommendations to confirm through due diligence, not legal, zoning, engineering or environmental advice.

Sources

Accessed 5 October 2026.