What started as a redevelopment of an old factory site in Spartanburg has turned into a daily headache for nearby residents. Neighbors living around the former Kohler plant say a massive data center campus rising next door has already reshaped their routines, with near constant construction noise, steady truck traffic and bright overnight lighting that they say rattles windows and wakes up entire households. Their frustration has become the latest flashpoint in a broader Upstate fight over how large data centers are allowed to build and power their operations.
What’s being built and where
The development, which is being handled by Valara Holdings, an affiliate of NorthMark Strategies, is transforming the old Kohler site into what officials have described as a roughly $2.8 billion high performance compute center at 4000 Pine Street, according to The State. Company materials say the project will roll out in phases, with construction continuing through 2028, and officials have promoted the promise of new tax revenue and on site jobs. Neighbors say that same scale and speed are what have turned a once quiet industrial edge of town into what feels like a round the clock construction zone.
State permit review underway
According to the S.C. Department of Environmental Services, Valara submitted a permit application on March 4 to add 11 natural gas turbines, and the agency hosted an availability session followed by a public hearing on June 25. The agency says the draft turbine permit remains open for public comment and that the comment window has been extended through July 31, 2026. DES officials note that permit decisions are tied to technical air quality criteria rather than how popular or unpopular a project is, and staff will comb through the record before making a final decision.
Neighbors turned out in force
Hundreds of residents packed the Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium on June 25 to question state officials and the developer about potential air pollution, noise and the level of transparency around the project, as WSPA reported. Speakers and attorneys urged DES to reject the request for additional turbines, with one environmental lawyer calling the rollout "stunning" for what they described as a lack of transparency. Regulators repeatedly reminded the crowd that their decision would hinge on federal and state permitting standards, not on how many people showed up to complain.
Legal fight moves to state regulators
A neighborhood group called Concerned Citizens of Spartanburg County has filed suit against Valara Holdings and Spartanburg County, arguing that the developer improperly relied on "minor" land development permits that skipped public review, according to The State. The group and allied clean energy organizations have also submitted petitions to the South Carolina Public Service Commission; South Carolina Public Service Commission records for Docket No. 2026-158-E list notices, filings and an oral argument schedule tied to the fight. The PSC case and the DES permit review create parallel, highly technical tracks that could determine whether the project moves forward as planned.
Developer says it’s following the rules
Company representatives say the project was described to agencies from the outset, that permits are being sought in phases and that mitigation measures are on the table, points the developer has repeated in local interviews and public meetings, according to FOX Carolina. NorthMark and Valara have emphasized projected tax benefits and the phased construction timeline while saying they will work to limit effects off site. Opponents counter that, process aside, the core problem is a lack of early, meaningful notice to neighbors about the footprint of the project and its onsite power plans.
What neighbors worry this means
Residents and their lawyers have flagged potential around the clock generator noise, increased truck traffic and emissions from onsite gas power as central concerns, according to court filings. Those filings and local coverage describe modeled emissions and the proposed power equipment as issues that touch both county land use rules and state air quality standards. The fight in Spartanburg has become part of a larger regional conversation over whether existing zoning and permitting systems are ready for the scale and intensity of modern data center builds.
What’s next
The S.C. Department of Environmental Services continues to take written comments on the draft turbine permit through July 31, according to its project page, and the South Carolina Public Service Commission docket for the complaint lists oral argument and filing deadlines later this month. Together, those parallel reviews will shape the project’s immediate future and could take months to fully play out. In the meantime, construction crews remain on site, and neighbors say the daily disruptions are already very real.
