Montvale Affordable Housing Fight Raises Data Center Option on Former KPMG Campus

A 155-page fourth-round settlement complaint filed March 2 asks Bergen County Superior Court Judge Lina Corriston to bless a plan that would let a developer choose between a 250-unit residential project or a “massive” data center on the 34-acre former KPMG campus at 3 and 51 Chestnut Ridge Road in Montvale. The filing, prepared by Surenian, Edwards, Buzak & Nolan LLC of Montville, seeks a stay on the borough’s agreement with S. Hekemian Group (SHG Montvale) while the dispute with Fair Share Housing Center is litigated.

Borough attorney Michael Edwards included a cover letter with the March 2 submission asking the court to protect Montvale’s immunity from builder’s-remedy lawsuits until a judge can rule on the KPMG dispute later this year. The filing specifically requested preservation of zoning authority as the town moves through its fourth-round affordable housing obligations ahead of the state’s March 15, 2026 deadline for amended Housing Elements and Fair Share Plans plus any implementing ordinances.

Fair Share Housing Center has mounted a formal challenge, arguing the data-center option would allow no affordable housing and violates state law. In a March 3 statement, Fair Share said, “Montvale is attempting to use New Jersey’s affordable housing process to authorize a massive data center in place of affordable homes — a move that the retired judge reviewing the town’s plan under the Affordable Housing Dispute Resolution Program has already deemed noncompliant with state law.” Fair Share’s executive director Adam Gordon added, “Montvale is asking the court to bless an illegal end‑run around its own public process, allowing its largest redevelopment site to become a massive data center with no affordable housing at all.”

The dispute follows a Feb. 10 recommendation from retired Superior Court Judge Julio Mendez of the Affordable Housing Dispute Resolution Program, who urged removal of the data-center option and the incentives tied to it. Montvale twice sought broader relief and failed at higher levels of review; U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito denied an emergency stay request on Feb. 24, leaving the borough to pursue the current court filing in Bergen County.

Mayor Mike Ghassali has argued there is insufficient space in Montvale to meet the affordable housing obligation and proposed giving a developer the option of housing or what one report described as an “AI center” on one of Bergen County’s largest development parcels. The March 2 complaint offers no technical description of the proposed data center, and borough filings reportedly include few operational details about any computing facility.

Montvale’s litigation has budget implications for taxpayers: records show the borough raised a previously set legal-fee cap from $30,000 to $350,000. With the March 15 submission deadline looming and Judge Corriston set to consider the borough’s stay and immunity request, the case will determine whether the KPMG site remains tied to a 250-unit housing proposal or shifts toward a nonresidential data- or AI-focused development with contested incentives and no clear affordable-housing commitment.