What's Coming to Frazeysburg? 4 Million Square Feet for a "Confidential End User"

On Sept. 14, 2026, Ohio EPA granted a wetland permit for five buildings — almost 4 million square feet — on farmland outside Frazeysburg in Muskingum County, for "a highly specialized, confidential end user." A week later, the developer (The New Albany Company) and the county port authority told reporters there were "no development plans to announce."

We spent countless hours in the deeds, permits, meeting minutes, campaign records and power-grid filings. What we found:
- Planning goes back to 2022 (water sized for an unnamed project) and 2023 (survey and wetland work for New Albany's land company).
- About $27 million in state money is going to water and sewer for the site.
- The "confidential end user" sentence is New Albany's template. The same sentence appears in filings that became data centers in Johnstown and Marysville.
- But this filing describes 250-300 manufacturing jobs, truck docks and a rail line, and no substation or generators. Our read: the anchor is more likely a manufacturer (possibly APAR USA) than a data center.
- The clearest data-center signal is next door. LS Power's former digital-infrastructure arm holds options on ~252 acres, and two 976 MW gas generators are queued on the 765 kV line that crosses the farm.
- Under current law, locals have few ways to say no.

We label inferences as inferences and give the other side. If a record says we got something wrong, tell us and we'll pin a correction.

Captions included.

CHAPTERS
0:00 Opening
1:00 1. The farm by the power line
1:57 2. Earlier than anyone said
3:58 3. Follow the public money
5:35 4. The template
7:29 5. The neighbor
9:22 6. Why New Albany wants data centers
10:45 7. What officials said, and didn't
12:24 8. Is a data center welcome?
13:42 9. What happens next

DATES TO KNOW
Oct. 13: AEP open house, Conesville-West Millersport 765 kV line, Tri-Valley High School, Dresden, 5:30-7:30 pm
Oct. 14: AEP open house, Newark, 5:30-7:30 pm
Oct. 28: AEP comment deadline (aeptransmission.com)
Nov. 3: Election

SOURCES (public records unless noted)
Ohio EPA eDocuments, NW Muskingum Business Park, ID 262434W (application narrative, Exhibit 7 site plan, Sept. 14, 2026 permit); Army Corps file LRH-2023-982; Johnstown South and Marysville South applications; Burgess & Niple letter (Aug. 15, 2022) and EMH&T Phase I (2024) from the JobsOhio site listing; Project Woodfire deck (Port Authority, 2025); Controlling Board request (July 21, 2025); All Ohio Future Fund guidelines; LSC fiscal notes (HB 434); Ohio EPA PY2027 draft list; Muskingum County Recorder deeds and option memoranda (Books 3351, 3371, 3374); Muskingum County Commissioners' journals 2020-2026 and Internet Archive snapshots; Ohio Tax Credit Authority minutes and Governor's release (Mar. 30, 2026); PJM Cycle 1 queue; FERC Form 552 (Hunterstown II); Utility Dive (Apr. 7, 2025); The Reporting Project (Sept. 21, 2026); Licking and Franklin County deeds; Auditor of State audits (New Albany East Community Authority); FEC, Ohio SOS and Senate disclosures; Spectrum News (Mar. 25, 2026); BGSU poll (Sept. 2026); Muskingum County zoning survey (2025); Ohio Revised Code 519, 709, 4906.

PICTURES AND FOOTAGE
Aerials: USGS, Ohio OSIP, USDA NAIP (public domain); contains modified Copernicus Sentinel-2 data (2026). Maps: Census, OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), Muskingum County GIS. Graham site photos: Zanesville-Muskingum County Port Authority. Music: original. Public-domain footage: NASA, TVA, U.S. Army.
Creative Commons (via Wikimedia Commons): "Drone Raw Footage," American Media Professionals (CC BY 3.0); "Google Data Center, Council Bluffs Iowa," Chad Davis (CC BY 2.0); "Amazon AWS us-west-2," Tedder (CC BY-SA 4.0); "Natural Gas Pipeline Station," Mbrickn (CC BY 4.0); "Dresden Ohio Natural Gas Plant," FunksBrother (CC BY-SA 4.0); "Guernsey Power Station," TomStonehunter (CC BY-SA 4.0); "Adams Township town hall" and "Jefferson Township meeting hall," Roseohioresident (CC BY-SA 4.0); "Muskingum County Courthouse," David Brossard (CC BY-SA 2.0); "New Albany City Hall" and "New High Transmission Lines Cut through the Meadow," Sixflashphoto (CC BY-SA 4.0); "Transmission towers at sunset in East Texas," Matthew T Rader (CC BY-SA 4.0); "CSX 1006 & 2443 (Marion, Ohio)," James St. John (CC BY 2.0); "Columbus - Ohio Statehouse," Riis2602 (CC BY-SA 4.0). Full credits with links are in the pinned comment.