Guilford County hopes to secure data center, jobs
GREENSBORO — An unidentified data-services company could pick sites in eastern Guilford County for a $400 million operation that would employ 125 to 150 people.
Over 20 years, the company’s investment could exceed $1 billion, which would have a major impact on the local tax base.
The company will ask local governments for incentives that include water and sewer and road improvements.
Local recruiters were scheduled to pitch the proposal Thursday night to members of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners.
The proposal could be presented to the Greensboro City Council as early as next week.
The two parcels, which have not been identified, include one in the county and one in the city. Land costs were not disclosed.
Local business recruiters declined to comment Thursday.
Other local leaders have been reluctant to talk about the project because of its sensitive nature but did confirm the basic outlines of the proposal. They declined to identify the company involved.
Those familiar with the project declined to say specifically what the company would do for fear of divulging its identity, but they did say that it would process, back up and store data.
Guilford County is competing with Des Moines, Iowa. Economic development officials there also declined to comment, citing the confidential nature of the process.
The majority of the jobs created would pay more than $60,000 a year, including benefits.
“That suggests that these are fairly skilled jobs,” said Andrew Brod, director of UNCG’s Center for Business and Economic Research. “That is the kind of thing we want.... They are good-paying jobs. That’s a very positive thing.”
Although sources do not anticipate that the company would produce significant job growth over the years, they said capital investment should continue.
Rob Bencini, a former Guilford County economic development official and now a private consultant, said the county’s total property tax base is $42 billion.
A $1 billion project would be nearly 2.5 percent of that tax base, Bencini said, adding “that’s a huge percentage.”
For several years, local economic developers have trained their sights on data centers because they provide environmentally clean operations and high-paying, high-skill jobs.
And Greensboro also offers the amenities that data centers want, including direct connections to the fastest, largest Internet transmission line on the East Coast. The line, which runs diagonally across the state, connects Greensboro to the most powerful Internet grid in the country.
Eastern Guilford County also offers at least one major industrial park, Rock Creek Center, which is offering two sites that could each accommodate buildings of more than 300,000 square feet.
Data center owners also require power supplies that won’t fail, and Greensboro has access to Duke Energy’s most reliable grid.
Dan Lynch, president of the Greensboro Economic Development Alliance, has talked with many data services companies, and he said Duke Energy is a definite asset.
“We go to shows specifically for data centers,” Lynch said in a 2008 interview. “When you mention that Duke Energy is your power provider, you see these folks light up. Not only are (Duke’s) people good, they’re extremely competitive with their pricing and their reliability.”
A Web site for data center operators, 7x24 Exchange, wrote in 2008 that “a large data center, for example, can easily consume as much electrical power as a small city.”
Security and safety for data centers are crucial because the information housed in their computers is the lifeblood of business and government. Through the years, data centers have been built to withstand floods, hurricanes and even nuclear attacks to keep their computers online.
Contact Richard M. Barron at 373-7371 or richard.barron@news-record.com
Contact Donald W. Patterson at 373-7027 or don.patterson@news-record.com
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