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SPARTANBURG COUNTY, S.C. —

Construction continues at the former Kohler plant in Spartanburg County, where a nearly $3 billion data center and private power plant are being built.

The South Pine project, known as Valara, has faced pushback from residents and the Southern Environmental Law Center, which filed a lawsuit arguing the project was improperly classified as a “minor land development.” The center argued that classification allowed the project to avoid public notifications and hearings typically associated with larger developments.

Eric Allison, who leads the No Data Centers in Spartanburg group, criticized the county's handling of the project.

“They were totally nontransparent and deceitful to the people," he said. “Spartanburg County residents have made it clear since the beginning of this year we don't want these data centers in our community, and they're being forced on us.”

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The South Carolina Public Service Commission unanimously dismissed challenges to the project Thursday, ruling that the private technology company is not subject to the same regulatory process as power plants because the power would be used privately, rather than provided to the public.

Spartanburg County Councilman Monier Abusaft said he believes the project could provide significant economic benefits.

"The tax revenue is significant," he said. "It will be probably the largest generator of tax revenue as an industry. It could be more significant than BMW in the long run.”

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The Spartanburg County Council is considering a one-year moratorium on new data centers. The final reading and vote are scheduled for Sept. 21.

The proposed moratorium would apply to new data center development, meaning it would not stop construction already underway at the Valara site.

SPARTANBURG — It’s been 245 years since the British suffered an embarrassing defeat at the Battle of Cowpens. Are they now putting money back into Spartanburg?

As the $2.8 billion, 457-megawatt NorthMark and Valara data center is built along South Pine Street, a review of public records shows a connection to a wealthy British financier who reportedly controls the Atlassian Williams Formula One racing team based in the village of Grove, England.

Before it was called NorthMark Strategies, the company had a different name: Dorilton Capital Management. Both companies now operate separately and share the same space in New York City in a Tribeca office building.

When a reporter visited the Tribeca office building where the companies are housed, a receptionist said the two companies were the same and that NorthMark was Dorilton’s new name.

Dorilton’s financing was previously opaque. But litigation involving the company in New York state court shed some light on who funded it and the Formula One racing team that it owns.

“There’s a bully billionaire in charge of this empire and he doesn’t play fair and he doesn’t honor contracts,” former Dorilton CEO Darren Fultz said in a legal deposition.

That “billionaire” is Peter de Putron, a British financier and brother-in-law to conservative British politician Andrea Leadsom, who’s served in several ministerial positions under multiple prime ministers.

According to testimony and court records from a New York state lawsuit, de Putron was the financial backer of Dorilton.

Asked about the relationship between NorthMark and Dorilton, NorthMark spokeswoman Sarah Knox said in an email that “Dorilton and NorthMark Compute and Cloud are both companies within the NorthMark Strategies ecosystem.”

NorthMark Compute and Cloud is also an official launch partner and corporate sponsor of Atlassian Williams Racing, Knox added.

But Knox declined to elaborate on whether de Putron was involved in the data center.

“NorthMark is privately funded and, as a matter of company policy, we do not publicly discuss the identities of our investors or the details of our private financing arrangements,” Knox said.

Neither Fultz nor attorneys for de Putron could immediately be reached for comment.

NorthMark and Dorilton

The connection between Dorilton and NorthMark hadn’t been widely publicized, but there were breadcrumbs even before Knox acknowledged the ties to The Post and Courier.

When law firm Jones Day handled the sale of one of NorthMark’s portfolio companies, Traditions Health, it linked the two companies in its announcement.

“Jones Day represented NorthMark Strategies (previously Dorilton Capital Management) in the sale of its portfolio company, Traditions Health, a national provider of home health, palliative care, and hospice services, to a consortium of buyers led by Revelstoke Capital Partners,” the law firm said in December.

A review of public LinkedIn accounts revealed several top officials working for NorthMark directly after working for Dorilton. One executive referred to the companies as the same.

NorthMark’s general counsel, Andrew Udin, was listed as Dorilton’s general counsel in New York state court records. Local property records also list him as the general counsel of Valara, the NorthMark subsidiary that is building the Spartanburg data center.

And in a deposition about de Putron’s involvement in Dorilton that was included in a New York state lawsuit, Fultz — the former Dorilton CEO — testified that he oversaw a handful of companies in Dorilton’s portfolio that were worth “a couple of billion dollars.”

Among the companies he chaired? Traditions Health.

De Putron’s influence

Dorilton, Like NorthMark Strategies, has a website that offers little in the way of public-facing personnel or information about its financing.

But in depositions from a New York state lawsuit over a fired marketing executive for the Dorilton-owned Atlassian Williams Formula 1 team, people close to the situation said de Putron was the financier behind Dorilton.

While Dorilton argued in court records that de Putron was a passive investor, New York Judge Andrew Borrok said in a ruling that “the record establishes that he is not merely just a passive outside investor. He is much more than that.”

For instance, when asked why de Putron attended Dorilton board meetings in New York, Dorilton Chairman Matthew Savage said in a deposition that “It is like any investor meeting. Like Jaime Diamon talks to his investors, and any company that is losing money and needs funding or is looking at a large project and needs investments; you go to the investor, make the case.”

Fultz said in a court filing that he reported to Savage and that both he and Savage then reported to de Putron.

“Mr. de Putron referred to himself as the ‘Group CEO’ of the entire group of companies which included not only Dorilton but also the entities that own and/are affiliated with the Williams Formula One Racing Team,” Fultz added.

Williams Racing CEO Jost Capito also said during a deposition that as far as he knew, de Putron is “the financial guy behind Dorilton.”

Citing the testimony, Borrok wrote that “Mr. de Putron (or “Our Dear Leader” aka “ODL” as he is internally referred to) makes ‘all significant decisions’ (including the decisions that are at the heart of the issues in this case) for Dorilton Capital Management LLC.”

NorthMark’s connections to de Putron don’t end at Dorilton.

De Putron also founded G-Research, a tech firm that uses machine learning to “bring scientific clarity to financial complexity — tackling some of the most challenging problems in quantitative finance,” according to its website.

Its former chief operating officer, Jen Byrne, is now president of NorthMark Strategies.

Knox said NorthMark and G-Research are two separate companies.

“HPC is a highly specialized discipline with a relatively small global talent pool, and as such, we employ individuals who previously worked at a variety of technology and computing companies, including G-Research,” Knox said.

Knox added that “NorthMark Strategies President Jen Byrne is a former employee of G-Research. NorthMark is fortunate that many employees of G-Research followed Jen to NorthMark when she assumed this new role.”

What the data center does

Construction on the data center is expected to continue into 2028.

It’s the first data center that NorthMark is building from the ground up. “Outside of Spartanburg, NorthMark and related entities have hosted high-performance compute in third-party data centers for many years,” Knox said in an email.

But it’s unclear what functions it will perform.

Asked if it would be used for algorithmic-based stock trading or to improve Atlassian Williams’ racing performance, Knox declined to say.

“NorthMark Compute and Cloud is establishing one of the most advanced HPC facilities in the world, leveraging cutting-edge technology to support complex computational tasks in machine learning, data analytics, and complex systems modeling,” Knox wrote. “We don't publicly discuss the specifics of the workloads that will run at the facility.”

Meanwhile, the company announced at its most-recent virtual town hall that it’s launching its charitable giving arm this week with an initial $1 million in giving across Spartanburg County. After that, Knox said, the company will give between $250,000 and $500,000 in charitable giving each quarter.

SPARTANBURG, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - A new school year brings new goals, but for one Spartanburg High School student, it also means fulfilling promises made on the campaign trail.

Last spring, Payten Shell, Spartanburg High’s student body president, was elected to serve as president of the South Carolina Association of Student Councils during the 2026-2027 school year.

“I’m most proud of to be the first black female president to come out of Spartanburg High School for the South Carolina Association of Student Councils and the second in the state,” Shell said.

Fellow Spartanburg High student Miles Little was elected as district chair of SCASC.

Due to their leadership roles with the organization, Spartanburg High will host hundreds of student leaders from the region for the SCASC District Rally on Oct. 16.

Between 1,000 and 1,200 students are expected to attend the three-day SCASC Annual State Conference at Spartanburg High in March.

Kiley Painter serves as the student council advisor and teaches a leadership class that students must complete before seeking a spot on the student council.

“We want them to learn how to advocate for themselves and be members of our community,” Painter said. “We’re working on communication skills, email writing and phone calls so they can do this in high school and as they continue into the workforce.”

The last time a Spartanburg District 7 student served as the SCASC president was 29 years ago. Local attorney and District 7 school board member Griffin Littlejohn Lynch held that spot. She will introduce Shell at the state conference.

Shell said her role as president will keep her busy throughout the school year. Looking further into the future, she said she envisions herself returning to the campaign trail.

“One of my biggest goals after teaching is to be the superintendent of education for South Carolina,” Shell said.

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COLUMBIA — South Carolina utility regulators ruled a Spartanburg data center that wants to generate its own power is not subject to the same regulatory process as power plants.

NorthMark Strategies, along with its subsidiary Valara Holdings, is converting a former Kohler kitchen and bath manufacturing plant into a $2.8 billion computing center. In June, environmental and citizens groups petitioned the state Public Service Commission to conduct its own review and halt construction of the center.

The commission on Thursday sided with Valara, ruling that the law public utility companies must abide by does not apply to the private technology company because “the facility will not export power generated to the electric grid for public use.”

One commissioner, David Britt, a former member of the Spartanburg County Council who supported Valara’s move to the county, recused himself from the vote and left the room.

“We are pleased with today’s unanimous ruling from the Public Service Commission, which agreed with our position that businesses generating power for their own use are not subject to South Carolina’s Utility Siting Act. We didn’t ask for an exception, but for the law to be read as written,” the company wrote in a statement.

Powering data centers

Large data centers, known as hyper scalers, have faced public backlash nationwide, largely for the massive amount of power they require to operate.

In that sense, Valara is different. Because it wants to generate its own power, it won’t be adding demand to the grid or directly impacting residential power bills.

The problem, according to the Southern Environmental Law Center, came when the company sought to drastically raise its power production well above its initial application.

State environmental regulators initially approved the company for about 50 megawatts. But Valara has since sought to amend its application to a total of 450 megawatts.

The Valara project became public in March 2025 when Spartanburg County began negotiating tax incentives for the project that would create 27 jobs.

At the time, Britt, the former county councilman who now sits on the Public Service Commission, told the SC Daily Gazette that the center was not expected to use more energy than the site’s former tenant.

Ultimately, that was not the case.

The facility is already permitted for 24 natural gas generators that each produce 2,000 kilowatts. The new request, submitted to the state Department of Environmental Services in March, asks for an additional five 17-megawatt natural gas combustion turbines and six 54-megawatt natural gas combustion turbines.

It’s that application that brought hundreds of residents to a downtown Spartanburg auditorium in June to voice their concerns about noise and air pollution from the turbines.

Emily Wyche, an attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, previously argued that the Public Service Commission takes a more holistic view, “weighing the different sort of impacts against alleged benefits of a facility,” rather than just looking at it through an environmental lens.

“This decision means that companies like Valara can build power plants of any size without any oversight from the commission,” the environmental center’s senior attorney Kate Mixson said in a statement Thursday. “As data centers descend on our state, this decision is the equivalent of putting out a calling card to these out-of-state companies: come to South Carolina, build as large of a power plant as you want to power your data center, and we won’t oversee it. The decision affects far more than the Valara project— if it stands, it will have massive consequences for our health, environment and electric system.”

Lawsuit continues

While the commission’s decision Thursday puts an end to those proceedings, a separate lawsuit continues. It was filed July 6 in Spartanburg County by Southern Environmental Law Center on behalf of a concerned citizens group.

In that case, the group argues Spartanburg County violated its own development codes by classifying the center, located on 300 acres southeast of the city of Spartanburg, as a “minor” development. The Southern Environmental Law Center said Valara accomplished this by segmenting its permitting process into smaller pieces and expanding the scope after construction had begun.

“Despite its size and scale, Spartanburg County allowed the developer to advance the project through the abbreviated ‘minor’ land development permitting process without the Planning Commission’s review and public process,” the law center said in a statement.

“While one permit for the ‘minor’ development has been issued, the second segmented permit is still pending before the County. Despite this, Valara has commenced massive construction, including tree clearing and grading activities, across the whole site,” the statement continued.

The group has asked the judge to order construction paused until the lawsuit is resolved.

Asked for response, a Valara spokeswoman said the company “is confident in the merits of its position.

“The project has been developed in close coordination with the appropriate state and local authorities, and we remain committed to moving forward responsibly and in compliance with all applicable requirements,” Sarah Knox wrote Thursday in an email to the SC Daily Gazette.

Meanwhile, Spartanburg County has blocked a different data center, proposed by a company called LightHouse, amid the public backlash.

County zoning officials on Tuesday denied an appeal by LightHouse as it sought permission to build its 200,000-square-foot center on 150 acres near Interstate 85, northeast of the city of Spartanburg.

The county council also is considering a one-year moratorium on all new data centers. A final vote on the moratorium is expected next month.

SPARTANBURG COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) – A wrong-way crash on I-85 in Spartanburg County resulted in two fatalities early Friday morning.

South Carolina Highway Patrol (SCHP) said the fatal crash happened just before 3:30 a.m. near exit 63—SC 290 near Duncan.

The two drivers have been identified as 28-year-old Anthony Joseph Astorini, of Moore, and 64-year-old Maurice Levernon Mitchell, of Greer, according to Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger.

Coroner Clevenger said Mitchell was driving northbound on I-85 in the southbound lane, when he hit Astorini head-on, killing them both.

“I do not know how he came to be on the wrong side of the road, it’s still under investigation,” said Clevenger.

7NEWS viewer Courtney Daniel exclusively shared this video of the crash. In it, you can see the wrong-way driver, Mitchell, traveling down I-85 S before colliding head-on with the victim, Astorini.

Knowing the area where the crash happened, Clevenger said, “[Astorini] didn’t have adequate time to be able to respond. It’s extremely sad on both accounts, both of these gentlemen dead.”

SCHP also reported that Mitchell caused a separate accident on I-85, roughly a mile away from the fatal crash, moments before.

Master Trooper Mitchell Ridgeway said it was a minor, four-car crash near mile marker 61. No injuries were reported from those initial car accidents.

Coroner Clevenger said a major factor of their investigation is the driver on the wrong side of the highway.

“The highways are marked and there are signs that indicate wrong way, so there may be other factors,” the coroner explained. “We don’t know yet, so we’ll be digging to try and find that out.”

Both drivers are undergoing forensic and toxicology exams to determine if either driver was distracted or impaired.

The crash left all lanes of I-85 South blocked for hours, pushing back traffic for miles.

The lanes reopened over four hours later, around 8 a.m.

The crash remains under investigation by Highway Patrol.