The former Nabisco property along Route 208 in Fair Lawn is being marketed for new industrial tenants, but one phrase in the leasing materials is drawing attention: “data center by right.” For now, however, local officials and the property owner say no application for a data center has been submitted.
FAIR LAWN, NJ — For decades, the Nabisco plant in Fair Lawn was known for something much simpler than artificial intelligence or cloud computing: cookies.
The massive factory along Route 208 was a familiar Bergen County landmark, remembered by generations of residents not only for its size but for the smell of freshly baked cookies that often drifted across nearby communities.
Now the site is entering a very different chapter.
News 12 New Jersey reports that leasing materials for the former Nabisco property include language identifying “data center by right” among the site’s potential advantages.
That phrase immediately raises an obvious question:
Could the former cookie factory eventually become a data center?
For now, the answer is: possibly, but nothing has been formally proposed.
Warehouse plans remain the official project
The Fair Lawn Planning Board approved redevelopment of the property in 2023 for a large warehouse project under Greek Real Estate Partners.
The approved plan called for approximately 644,000 square feet of warehouse and distribution space, including office space.
According to News 12, that remains the official development plan.
Both the property owners and Fair Lawn Mayor Kurt Peluso told the station that no application for a data center has been submitted.
So the leasing language does not mean that construction of a data center is about to begin.
But it does suggest that the property is being marketed in a way that leaves that possibility open.
What does “data center by right” mean?
In commercial real estate, the phrase generally indicates that a particular use may already be permitted under existing zoning rules, without requiring a major rezoning process.
That can make a property more attractive to companies looking to build data infrastructure quickly.
Data centers house large numbers of servers and other computing equipment used to store and process digital information.
Their importance has grown rapidly as cloud computing, streaming services and especially artificial intelligence increase demand for enormous amounts of computing capacity.
But data centers can also generate local questions about electricity demand, backup generators, cooling systems, traffic during construction and the amount of land occupied by facilities that may employ fewer people than traditional factories or warehouses.
For Fair Lawn residents, those questions would become relevant only if an actual proposal is filed.
A site with a long history in Fair Lawn
The Nabisco plant opened in 1958 and became one of Fair Lawn’s largest employers and taxpayers.
At its height, the plant employed roughly 1,500 workers and produced enormous quantities of cookies and snacks. Mondelēz International announced the plant’s closure in 2021, eliminating hundreds of jobs. Demolition began in 2023.
By 2025, demolition and cleanup of the old factory had largely been completed, clearing the way for redevelopment.
For longtime residents, the transformation of the property carries more than economic significance.
The Nabisco factory was part of the visual and even sensory identity of northern Bergen County.
Now a property once associated with ovens, production lines and the smell of cookies is being marketed in an economy increasingly shaped by warehouses, logistics and digital infrastructure.
From baking cookies to storing data?
There is currently no approved data center project at the site, and that distinction is important.
But the words appearing in the leasing materials offer a glimpse of how dramatically the economic value of industrial land is changing.
A generation ago, the Fair Lawn property was valuable because it could manufacture millions of pounds of food.
Today, the same land may also be valuable because of its potential to house the machines that power the digital world.
Whether that ever happens remains to be seen.
For now, the former Nabisco site is still officially headed toward warehouse development.
But in Fair Lawn, a property once famous for producing cookies has suddenly raised a very 2026 question:
Could its next major product be data?
Sources: News 12 New Jersey; Greek Development; NJBIZ; RE-NJ
By NJ RADAR Team