New Hampshire CIBOR president’s message June 2026 - by Brian Dano

NECPE: 
Alpha Testing of Lease Up’s NECPE solution has begun. We are going for a function data-rich yet minimalistic platform. The goal of any listing platform is to get the property in front of consumers and get leads; we are confident in that. Beta testing is in June for July go-live. The goal here is to learn from our previous mistakes regarding rolling out a new platform (Catalyst to Moody’s).

Training throughout New England (as of 5/31/26)

• Tuesday, June 9^th, 12-2 pm TFMoran, Bedford, NH

• Tuesday, June 16^th, 2-4 pm, SVN Masiello, South Portland, ME

• Tuesday, June 30^th, 12-2 pm, Keller Williams, Portsmouth, NH

We are actively seeking locations in Vermont and Rhode Island.

I want to stress this is a ground-up construction, and we will be flying the plane while building it. However, we will have full support of the Lease Up developers in making our suggested changes. We appreciate your patience in advance.

Let’s Talk Data Centers: 
Should we add data centers to the list of things not to bring up at dinner (with items such as money, politics and religion)? Perhaps we can ask Tom Moulton, a developer in Nottingham, NH who withdrew an application this past week due to in some part, extensive backlash from the community sighting environmental concerns from his project. I bet if you asked these same townspeople if they use chat GPT or Claude most would say that they do. Are data centers a do what I say, not as I do, hypocrisy conundrum?

The fervor around the subject has reached a fever pitch. In Lowell, Mass. a 352,000 s/f data center run by the Markley Group has been in operation for some time. As of recent the residents of Lowell have seen/reported issues including noise and diesel emissions in the air. Which has led to a proposed moratorium on that center’s expansion plans.

I am sympathetic to both parties developers and townspeople. The free market is going to free market; there is an unmet demand, so these data centers will be built. It just a matter of where. They may or may not have negative side effects.

Here’s the good news, the problems seem to be known, namely, a single AI data center can use up to five million gallons of water a day, equaling the daily use of a 50,000-person town, and electricity whereas hyperscale data centers rival or exceed the energy consumption of large towns and cities. Once the variables are known we can solve the problems. 

Maine as a state, moved to ban data centers over 20 megawatts, which was vetoed by governor Janet Mills in April. Similarly, in May of this year, Vermont moved to ban data centers ultimately to get vetoed by governor Phill Scott. New Hampshire has had some movement in this regard also, Senate Bill 439 would allow data centers by right in commercially zoned parcels, has passed the senate and is on to the house. 

Time will tell if municipalities will be able to make the decision to weigh the pros and cons or if broad bans will limit development. 

Postscript: Please, volunteer at your municipalities planning/ zoning board(s). They need people who understand the business and the laws that govern what can and cannot be done within them. In New Hampshire we have pushed for mandatory training of all board members, but that has not got traction to date. The real estate community thanks you in advance.

Brian Dano is the 2026 president of the N.H. Commercial Investment Board of Realtors, Bedford and is a managing director of SVN/The Masiello Group, Bedford, N.H.