Alcoa Corporation has entered into definitive agreements to sell portions of its former Massena East smelter in upstate New York to an unnamed data center firm for up to $315 million, announced during the company's Q3 2026 earnings. Alcoa expects to receive approximately $50 million to $65 million at closing, with an additional $60 million to $250 million possible over a seven-year period as data center capacity is approved and commissioned. Although the buyer was not named in the announcement, BizJournal reports the site will be developed by North Country Colocation Services, an affiliate of cryptominer NYDIG; site plans filed with the town of Massena planning board show an 88-acre project totaling up to 635 megawatts across two buildings and 870,000 square feet. Alcoa CEO Bill Oplinger said the deal advances the company's asset monetization strategy across ten former smelter sites it has been marketing to data center firms.
The sale demonstrates that former heavy industrial sites with existing power infrastructure and large acreage are becoming viable, large-scale data center campuses, with this single site permitted for an initial 180 megawatts expandable to 635 megawatts. Alcoa's active pipeline of similar deals across ten former smelter properties signals a broader conversion trend that could reshape how the industry sources land and grid-connected capacity.
A $315 million industrial land conversion deal involving a named major company (Alcoa) and a US site is a significant market transaction with implications for brownfield data center development trends.