Hi! Seems like the Commodore MOS building is for sale.

https://www.naiglobal.com/listings/?propertyId=950-rittenhouse-road-norristown-pa-sale

"950 Rittenhouse Road | Norristown, PA 19403"


Can we not crowd fund and buy it? Convert it to a data center to generate funds
and revive the big C= ???

Just a suggestion :)

@Joe_RSA

I love the idea!

_________________

@Joe_RSA

Is it fully remediated now then? I heard it was a major liability and pollution hot spot to the groundwater below! I don't want that sort of exposure to being sued to be honest!

_________________
"Art challenges technology. Technology inspires the art."
John Lasseter, Co-Founder of Pixar Animation Studios

@Joe_RSA

Nice size lot. Backs up on a park. Not too far from Philly. Some interesting neighbors.
I wonder what's their asking price.

_________________
All the way, with 68k

@Joe_RSA

Well, I can spend 5 EUR, so count me in!

@BigD

https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/SiteProfiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=second.cleanup&id=0301146#Status

This is the EPA report.

@pavlor

Every cent will count

Maybe we should open it up to shareholding than maybe the buy in will be greater from all Commodore and Amiga users...

I hope this 'Let's buy it' is a joke ...

We don't need the CBM fab building. We need to fab what CBM failed to build.

@Joe_RSA

Thanks! Nice background reading! Groundwater levels are coming down!

_________________
"Art challenges technology. Technology inspires the art."
John Lasseter, Co-Founder of Pixar Animation Studios

@Joe_RSA

Have you thought about how much it would actually cost to set up your data centre in that location and how it would cost to run and how much revenue it would generate? Bear in mind that the building may only be fit for demolition at the stage.

Last edited by Rob on 15-Oct-2024 at 06:32 PM.

@Joe_RSA

The listing appears to have vanished from that page now, maybe someone has bought it?!

@danwood

This is a good video as it was April 2022.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBXOiRinvaw

And here's Chris Edwards having a tour:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7d_mDz1yCM

All the EPA information is interesting too! Here are the drill rig notifications for the local residents!

epa-commodore-superfund-site-fact-sheet.pdf

_________________
"Art challenges technology. Technology inspires the art."
John Lasseter, Co-Founder of Pixar Animation Studios

It's a huge building but was in bad shape in 2022.

MOS Technology Plant Visit 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBXOiRinvaw

Abandoned Chip Fab: Bil Herd's MOS Technologies Factory Walk-Through 35 Years Later (2020)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI20uSRtJUU

Estimated value: $4,311,838 (questionable accuracy for run down industrial property)
2023 Property Taxes: $56,680

https://www.xome.com/realestate/950-rittenhouse-rd-norristown-pa-19403-15791589

The property is currently part of a 10 year tax abatement. The normal 1.43% Pennsylvania property tax based on the estimated value above may be $61,659 per year by my calculation. An open market sale would likely affect the tax value/assessment which may affect the property tax. From looking at the place, the value may drop. The property is mostly rural so there may not be much upside if the building has to be torn down.

If the property tax seems high, the cost to operate the building and fab would have been much higher even as an older fab. The Motorola MOS 13 fab (Ed Bluestein facility in Austin Texas) cost 50 million a year (nearly $1 million a week) to operate when it was first built.

https://www.gscarchitects.com/project/motorola-mos-13-2/

Most of the higher tech 68040-68060 chips were fabbed in the older MOS 11 foundry (Oak Hill facility in Austin Texas). The MOS 11 foundry was mostly shut down circa 2023 bust still sees some specialty work.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Austin/comments/pabxxy/question_about_history_of_nxp_austin_in_oak_hill/?rdt=33372 Quote:

I just heard the factory shut down early. They were supposed to go until December 2023 but they finished everything they needed and have let people go or transition them over to ed bluestein plant. Not sure how true this is but I'm sure others can chime in. They are not officially closing according to nxp. They are in fact converting it to an epitaxial center of excellence. To make epi wafers. But the head count and number of machines necessary will drop tremendously.

The fab business is very capital intensive but maintaining and upgrading the building and equipment can result in a long life. The other option is financial suicide and the CSG/MOS fab facility is a good example. Fabless semiconductor development is much cheaper and easier. Western Design Center is still making money from licensing hundreds of millions of 6502 family CPUs/MCUs per year.

https://www.westerndesigncenter.com/

The business is still going 30 years after CBM departed. Too bad there has not been similar availability of 68k and Amiga chipset IP. Fabless development has relatively low capital requirements and can have a long life, especially for older retro and embedded IP which doesn't require as much change. It sounds like a much better business opportunity to me than the fab business but Trevor seems intent on following in Irving's footsteps of financial suicide.

Edit: @BigD You beat me to the videos but Bil Herd inside finding CBM stuff trumps all!

Last edited by matthey on 15-Oct-2024 at 09:25 PM.
Last edited by matthey on 15-Oct-2024 at 09:23 PM.

@danwood

https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/950-Rittenhouse-Rd-Norristown-PA/22992627/

@Rob

We had looked at this a while back. As data center supplier you just the landlord. You supply the warehouse, security, electricity, rack space and fiber backbone. Revenue is generated from how many servers in your racks and packages chosen by clients.

You may be correct in that the building itself might need to be revamped or taken down.