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GREENSBORO — The Guilford County Board of Commissioners has set a public hearing for May 6 to consider a $6 million incentive request for American Express, which is looking for a site to build a $400 million data-services operation that could employ up to 150 people.

The New York-based company, best known for its credit card and travel operations, also will seek incentives from the city of Greensboro, but the amount of that request could not be determined Friday.

American Express already has a large call center at 7701 Airport Center Drive here. That operation opened in 1985 and employs about 2,000 people.

Economic recruiters and elected officials remained guarded Friday about discussing the specifics of the new project, which has the potential to grow to a $1 billion investment over 20 years. Yet a source familiar with the discussions identified American Express as the candidate. The company also is considering an unspecified offer from Des Moines, Iowa.

“These facilities have become important symbols of the new economy, particularly for areas that used to be based around factories,” said Rich Miller, editor of Data Center Knowledge, an online publication covering the industry. “What the data center represents is a transition to the digital age.”

Those familiar with data centers say American Express has been looking for a place to locate a new operation for the past several months. If the company selects Guilford County, it could break ground within 60 to 90 days.

Dan Lynch, a local economic development official, spent 45 minutes Thursday night briefing the Guilford County commissioners on the project.
“I just want to holler out who this is, but they asked us not to,” said Commissioner Kirk Perkins. “This puts us on the map. It’s huge. It ranks up there with FedEx and HondaJet.”

In addition to the new jobs and the boost to the tax base, Perkins said, the project carries another long-term benefit. “The most exciting thing is that it would put us on track to have other (data centers) look at this area,” he said. “A lot of times, you get clusters.”

In recent years, North Carolina has landed a couple of major data centers.

In 2009, Apple announced it would build a $1 billion data center in Maiden. Two years earlier, Google decided to build a $600 million center in Lenoir.

Although the American Express center won’t be as large as those — at least not initially — it still would be viewed as a major coup locally.

“If it happens, it’s going to be a great day for Guilford County,” said Melvin “Skip” Alston, chairman of the Board of Commissioners.  “It is something that will help us get back on the road to recovery.”

The incentive requests will include water, sewer and road improvements as well as money for job creation. The specific breakdown could not be determined Friday.

No state incentives will be involved because the project won’t produce enough jobs to qualify.

The level of job production bothers Commissioner Paul Gibson. “In my way of thinking, that is the critical element,” he said. “I historically have not supported incentives and I have not made up my mind on this one. ... Maybe they are looking at Greensboro so they can get more out of Des Moines.”

Officials in Des Moines declined to comment.

The Greensboro City Council should be briefed on the project Tuesday and likely would hold a public hearing May 4.

Staff researcher Diane Lamb contributed to this report.

Contact Donald W. Patterson at 373-7027 or don.patterson@news-record.com