The 39-acre stretch of Route 208 that once perfumed Fair Lawn with the smell of baking cookies is now at the center of a very different kind of local debate. A commercial real estate listing for the site of the demolished Nabisco factory advertises the property as having data center capability, including up to 240 megawatts of available power, even though no data center application has ever been filed there.
The listing, for a property marketed as Gateway North 208, is built around the 644,000-square-foot warehouse and distribution center that the Fair Lawn Planning Board approved for the site. But a leasing flyer for the property goes further, touting data center by right status and the 240 MW power figure, according to News 12 New York. Property owner Greek Real Estate Partners is still seeking a tenant for that original warehouse plan and offered no comment when asked about the data center language in its own listing, the outlet reported.
A Factory That Once Smelled Like Cookies
For decades, the site was simply the Nabisco plant, a 1958-era building that anchored a stretch of Route 208 near the Glen Rock border. One Fair Lawn resident identified as Anna recalled that the plant used to smell like chocolate chip cookies, a detail the station's report used to underscore just how different the site's next chapter could look. Mondelez International closed the factory in 2021, according to Patch. The company sold the 39-acre parcel to Greek Development for $146.5 million that October.
Getting rid of the old plant itself proved contentious. Developer Greek Development scrapped plans to implode the 12-story tower in April 2023 after community backlash over potential exposure to airborne asbestos and lead, per New Jersey 101.5; neighboring Glen Rock's public schools had even threatened to cancel classes on any scheduled implosion day. Demolition instead proceeded piece by piece over nearly two years, wrapping up in late September 2025, though the effort to save the landmark red Nabisco highway sign that greeted Bergen County commuters for six decades ultimately failed due to its fragile condition, according to The Ridgewood Blog.
What Was Actually Approved
The Fair Lawn Planning Board unanimously approved site plans back in September 2023 for a 644,000-square-foot Class-A warehouse and distribution center, complete with 10,000 square feet of office space and 256 parking spaces, as reported by Jersey Digs. That warehouse plan, and only that plan, is what got the green light. The site itself is zoned restricted industrial and sits near a school and several housing units, according to News 12's report.
CBRE's official marketing materials for Gateway North 208 describe up to 656,750 square feet of cross-dock industrial space with 40-foot clear heights, pitched to logistics tenants for its location just 13 miles from the George Washington Bridge. It's the separate April 2026 leasing flyer, advertising data center capability and the 240 MW power figure under a claim of data center by right status, that has unsettled residents near the property.
Split Reactions and a Mayor's Pushback
News 12 found a split reaction among residents to the data center prospect. One resident raised the possibility of new jobs coming with a data center, while another emphasized the costs to residents and noise concerns that such a facility could bring. Fair Lawn Mayor Cristina Cutrone was direct about where the borough stands: she said the approved plan authorizes only a warehouse, and that the borough has no interest in becoming a destination for data centers. No data center application has actually been filed for the Fair Lawn site.
Cutrone has said the borough has no interest in becoming a destination for data centers. The listing's by-right language raises questions about how industrial-zoned land can be marketed and regulated. The broader issue is how municipalities approach regulation of the facilities.
A Statewide Backlash Is Already Underway
Fair Lawn's uneasy standoff over marketing language versus municipal approval is unfolding against a much bigger fight playing out across New Jersey. In June 2026, Red Bank became the first municipality in the state to ban AI data centers outright and formally called on state officials for a statewide moratorium, a move that has underscored the debate over data-center restrictions in New Jersey, according to Insider NJ. Municipal leaders have cited steep electrical demands and the potential for utility rate hikes as concerns, while the site's advertised 240-megawatt figure would represent a substantial proposed load.
The pushback has reached Washington as well. U.S. Representative Frank Pallone Jr. advocated for a national moratorium on AI data center construction during a June 2026 House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing, per Jersey Vindicator. The question of local data-center restrictions has also become part of the broader debate. For now, the fate of the old Nabisco land in Fair Lawn remains what it was on paper in 2023: an approved warehouse site, with a leasing flyer promising something the town says it never agreed to.
