Alcoa will sell portions of its long-idled Massena East aluminum smelter in northern New York to a developer that plans to build a data center on the property. The company values the transaction at up to $315 million. Closing is expected within six months, subject to permitting and regulatory approvals.
Alcoa collects $50 million to $65 million at closing, then another $60 million to $250 million tied to permitted data center capacity and commissioning over as much as seven years, Manufacturing Dive reported. The sale is the first step in a plan to raise $500 million to $1 billion from surplus assets by 2030.
The site covers roughly 1,300 acres along the St. Lawrence River at Massena and draws power from the New York Power Authority's St. Lawrence-FDR hydropower project. That interconnection historically carried about 435 megawatts of smelting load.
Local filings describe a three-building campus drawing about 635 megawatts, according to NNY360. Data centers are not yet a permitted use in the town's industrial zone, and the developer has not secured a power purchase agreement with the state authority.
Bloomberg reported in April that NYDIG, the bitcoin-focused firm owned by Stone Ridge, was in advanced talks for the site. Alcoa has declined to confirm the buyer.