Weeks before introducing a bill to streamline data center development across Pennsylvania, State Sen. Greg Rothman’s real estate firm quietly collected a fee from the $30 million sale of land now hosting the state’s largest proposed data center. Whether that sequence amounts to a conflict of interest — or simply an uncomfortable overlap — depends entirely on who you ask and what standard you think elected officials should be held to.
The Deal, The Fee, The Bill
A real estate closing and a legislative push landed uncomfortably close together on the calendar.
Here’s the documented sequence, according to Spotlight PA’s reporting:
- June 2025: The 500-plus-acre PennTerra tract in Middlesex Township, Cumberland County, sells for $30 million to developers behind PAX-1 — a three-campus, $15 billion data center targeting 1.35 gigawatts of capacity. RSR Realtors receives a fee at closing.
- RSR is chaired by Rothman, who joined the firm in 1989. His father, Bill Rothman, founded it.
- July 14, 2025: Rothman introduces Senate Bill 939, creating “Commonwealth Opportunity Zones” with expedited permitting and — originally — provisions blocking municipalities from imposing stricter zoning rules on data centers than on other industries.
- PAX-1 developer Igal Feibush confirmed to Spotlight PA that RSR was paid “alongside several other brokers and consultants.” Neither party disclosed the dollar amount.
“This political figure who ostensibly represents us, who has been deaf to people’s complaints about Middlesex, and has very explicitly supported legislation that would disempower communities further, has a financial stake, best we understand it — at least at some point — in the health of this project.” — John Werner, Stewards of Cumberland County organizer, per Spotlight PA
Rothman maintains the fee compensated prior listing and advisory work for the land’s previous owner — not the data center transaction itself. “RSR has never been involved with the PAX-1 project,” he told Spotlight PA.
Pennsylvania law explicitly allows legislators to hold outside jobs. A 2024 Philadelphia Inquirer analysis found more than half of state House and Senate members do exactly that. Rothman’s voting record also isn’t uniformly pro-industry: he recently voted to eliminate a major data center sales tax exemption.
The real tension here isn’t legality. Feibush and other PAX-1-linked figures donated to Rothman’s campaigns — contributions Feibush characterized as reflections of “personal friendships,” not influence. Meanwhile, SB 939’s most aggressive provisions, including the local zoning preemption language, were later stripped by co-sponsor Sen. Tracy Pennycuick. The bill hasn’t advanced beyond committee.
“I will always work in the best interests of my constituents and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.” — Sen. Greg Rothman, written statement to Spotlight PA
300 Residents, One Town Hall
Cumberland County’s pushback is bipartisan, organized, and showing no signs of quieting down.
The Stewards of Cumberland County drew roughly 300 people to a June town hall — a turnout that signals this fight has moved well past social media complaints into sustained civic organizing. PAX-1 construction is already underway, with blasting and site work beginning in spring and first-phase delivery projected for Q2 2027. Republican state Rep. Thomas Kutz separately released a video distancing himself from data center backlash, signaling real fractures within the party on this issue.
SB 939 sits idle in committee. PAX-1 breaks ground. And the question nobody in Harrisburg seems eager to answer remains sharp: when your firm profits from land you’re simultaneously making easier to develop through legislation, at what point does “perfectly legal” stop being good enough?
