Project dossier · Monroe Township (Gloucester County), New Jersey

Hexa Builders data center (Black Horse Pike) In review

Previously-approved warehouse project at 3043 South Black Horse Pike amended in early April 2026 to include a 1,000,000 sq ft data center. Two weeks later the township council stripped data-center permissions from the site and banned data centers township-wide; the planning board then deemed the amended application incomplete. Hexa is now suing the township for $300M+. Not dead - the litigation decides it.

Key facts

Filing LLC: Hexa Builders LLC
Location: Monroe Township (Gloucester County), New Jersey
Application filed: 2026-04-01
Stage today: In review

Source
read 2026-08-07

What to do next

Next step: Application filed. Ask the planning office for the hearing date and request formal notice.

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What has happened so far (30 events)

2019-09-23rezoning
Monroe Township Council adopted Resolution R:221-2019, declaring the Commercial Corridor Rehabilitation Area along Black Horse Pike (Block 8401, Lots 8, 9, and 10, approximately 158 acres) an area in need of redevelopment. · source
2023-02-01rezoning
Monroe Township adopted Ordinance O:04-2023, approving the Hexa Builders Redevelopment Plan (revised November 15, 2022) permitting warehouse, storage, and distribution uses on the 158-acre site; data centers were not included as a permitted use. · source
2023-03-16hearing
The New Jersey Pinelands Commission published a public notice and scheduled a hearing on Monroe Township Ordinance O:04-2023 to determine whether the Hexa Builders Redevelopment Plan conformed with the Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan. · source
2025-03-12rezoning
Monroe Township Council adopted Ordinance O:02-2025, amending the Hexa Builders Redevelopment Plan to add data centers and associated infrastructure (electrical systems, cooling equipment, network infrastructure, emissions control) as a permitted use. · source
2025-12-23filing
Residents within 200 feet of the Hexa Builders redevelopment site received certified mail notice of a January 8, 2026 planning board meeting regarding a 1.6-million-square-foot warehouse proposal at 3043 South Black Horse Pike. · source
2026-01-08meeting
At a January 8 Monroe Planning Board meeting, residents objected to the data center proposal, but the board approved Hexa's project that evening. · source
2026-01-28vote
On January 28 the Monroe Township Council directed the planning board to develop stricter data center standards, citing resident opposition. · source
2026-02-02ruling
On February 2 the Monroe Planning Board memorialized its approval of Hexa's project in a written resolution. · source
2026-03-11meeting
More than 100 residents packed a Monroe Township Council meeting lasting five hours; environmental groups including CRAN, Sustain South Jersey, Pinelands Alliance, and Food and Water Watch attended and raised concerns about the data center's water, energy, and noise impacts. · source
2026-03-16announcement
Mayor Gregory Wolfe announced in a Facebook video that a data center would not be coming to Monroe Township and that the council would remove data centers as a permitted use from the Hexa Redevelopment Plan at the March 25 meeting. · source
2026-03-25vote
At a March 25 council meeting, Monroe Township leaders heard resident concerns and approved a motion to change the ordinance so data centers could not be built in the community. · source
2026-03-25filing
Council introduced Ordinance O:20-2026 to eliminate data center use from the Hexa Builders Redevelopment Plan; all council members except John Valentine voted to introduce it, with Valentine wanting a broader ban and better public notification instead. · source
2026-04-01filing
Hexa Builders filed an amended application in early April 2026 converting one approved warehouse into a 1M sq ft data center at 3043 South Black Horse Pike. · source
2026-04-08vote
The Monroe Township council and ordinance committee voted to introduce a separate township-wide data center ban ordinance, with a final adoption vote scheduled for April 22. · source
2026-04-22vote
Township council passed two ordinances: one stripping data-center permissions from the specific site, the other banning data centers township-wide. · source
2026-05-08coverage
CBS Philadelphia reported on the ban, quoting Mayor Wolfe stating that Monroe Township has now banned any data center use from ever coming to the township. · source
2026-05-12meeting
Planning board unanimously deemed the amended site-plan application incomplete - blocking the project without rejecting it on the merits. · source
2026-05-12ruling
At the completeness review, township planner Christopher Dochney cited multiple application deficiencies including a missing environmental assessment, no Pinelands Certificate of Filing, unsigned plans, absent stormwater maintenance schedule, and incomplete electrical infrastructure documentation covering 3+ acres. · source
2026-05-13operational
Monroe Township's data center ban officially took effect on May 13. · source
2026-05-13public-comment
A coalition of 60 environmental, labor, and community organizations sent a letter to Governor Sherrill urging her to use emergency powers to impose a statewide moratorium on data centers consuming 20+ megawatts; Monroe Township resident Aleasha Whipple was quoted as a local organizer. · source
2026-05-22hearing
On May 22 Hexa presented its still-pending application, including the data center component, at a packed special planning board meeting attended by opposed residents. · source
2026-06-05lawsuit
On June 5 Hexa Builders filed a 104-page, 20-count lawsuit in New Jersey Superior Court alleging First and 14th Amendment and state-law violations and seeking $300 million after Monroe denied its application. · source
2026-07-06filing
On July 6 the case was moved from New Jersey Superior Court to federal court in Camden; the Superior Court case closed. · source
2026-07-09meeting
At a July 9 planning board session, resident John Romano questioned how Hexa's application advanced and raised concerns about potential noise and pollution impacts on his property. · source
2026-07-14hearing
A case management conference was held in the Hexa Builders LLC and 3043 Williamstown Urban Renewal LLC v. Monroe Township case (Docket No. GLO-L-805-26). · source
2026-07-17coverage
Township Solicitor Sandra Graise stated the municipality is committed to vigorously and zealously defending the lawsuit while protecting residents' interests. · source
2026-07-28filing
On July 28 Monroe attorney Todd Gelfand filed a four-page letter seeking dismissal, arguing the ban does not regulate the content of speech, a speaker, a message, or the plaintiffs' ability to engage in expressive activity. · source
2026-07-30ruling
Hexa Builders sued Monroe Township for more than $300 million in damages over the ban and the completeness review. · source
2026-08-01filing
On August 1 Hexa's attorney Jim Maley asked the federal judge to reject Monroe Township's request to dismiss the lawsuit. · source
2026-08-03filing
Hexa attorney Jim Maley filed a letter requesting remand of the non-constitutional state-law claims back to New Jersey Superior Court, arguing state courts have more expertise on local land use laws. · source

Find the paper trail

Find the paper trail (0 filed · 11 places to look)

State environmental permits

Backup generators, water withdrawal and stormwater are permitted by the state, usually earlier and in more detail than anything filed locally.

New Jersey DEPThe program page: which permits this state requires, and the office that issues them.
NJDEP DataMinerSearchable public filings — search the operator, the shell LLC on the deed, and the address.

County & town filings

The rezoning application, site plan, traffic and noise studies, staff report and every revision.

Search Monroe Township (Gloucester County) planning filingssearchPlanning departments post application files under many different names. Find the department, then ask the clerk for the application number — that number unlocks everything else.
Search Monroe Township (Gloucester County) property records / GISsearchThe parcel record names the buying LLC and the sale date, which is what ties an anonymous filing to an operator.

Utility & grid records

The electricity request is filed with the grid operator and the utility long before the town hears about it — and states the real load.

PJM Interconnection (Mid-Atlantic, Ohio Valley) — interconnection queueRequested megawatts, queue position and target in-service date. The MW here is the real number; the one at the town meeting is often phase one.
New Jersey Board of Public Utilities — docket searchSpecial contracts, large-load tariffs and rate cases are docketed here. Testimony and exhibits are public, and are usually more candid than the press release.
FERC eLibraryFederal filings: transmission agreements, interconnection service agreements, and co-location disputes.
Search the serving utility for a will-serve lettersearchThe will-serve or load-service letter is the utility's own written commitment. Ask the utility and the PUC for it by name — it is frequently the first document to exist.

Federal databases

Works anywhere, and covers the operator's record at its other sites.

EPA ECHO facility searchEvery federally-reported air, water and waste permit at a facility, plus its inspection and violation history. Search by address or draw a radius around the site. This project's locality centres on 39.680, -74.990 — search that point with a 5-mile radius.
EPA EnvirofactsThe same underlying records, queryable by county — useful for 'what else is permitted near this site' rather than one facility.
EPA Facility Registry ServiceResolves the shell LLC on a permit to the facility it belongs to. Worth a look when the filing name means nothing locally.

These are places to look, not evidence that anything has been filed. Links were checked on 2026-08-21; search links are queries, not records. What to ask for.

Around here

Monroe Township (Gloucester Co.) community briefing — Enactedno end date — permanent
New Jersey briefing — rates, grid carbon, PUC contacts.

Other tracked projects in New Jersey

DataOne USA / Nebius Vineland (Microsoft) — Vineland, 13 mi Approved
A1 Data Center (Millville) — Millville, 20 mi Blocked by ban
100 Jersey Avenue AI Data Center — New Brunswick, 63 mi Denied
Andover HPC Data Center — Andover Township (Sussex County), 91 mi In review

Cite this page: GridWatch AI, “Hexa Builders data center (Black Horse Pike)”, aigridwatch.com/projects/hexa-monroe-township-nj, retrieved 2026-10-11.

As of August 2026 (2m ago) · changes weekly — re-check before citing

A working set of identified proposals a community can track, not a census — most of the country's activity is not in here yet. Pennsylvania is the exception: its rows are synced from PA DEP's own data-center permit tracker, so the state's coverage is close to complete and carries the permit trail with it. **Each row carries its own provenance.** Rows showing a verification date link to reporting or the governing body's own record and were read on that date; rows marked *unverified* have no source on record — a lead to check, not a fact to cite. **Stage is derived, not asserted.** *Hearing scheduled*, *Awaiting decision*, *Approved* and *Withdrawn* are computed from each row's milestone dates on every rebuild, so a hearing date that has passed stops reading 'scheduled'. Hearings get moved and projects re-file under new names — treat a scheduled date as the earliest to act by, and confirm with the clerk before relying on it. Leads are mined into data/project_candidates.json and promoted here only after a human reads a primary source.

Part of the data center project tracker — open data, CC BY 4.0 (JSON · CSV).