New datacenter megaproject planned for New Albany

Another datacenter project with a construction price tag over $1 billion is coming to Central Ohio. 

Kansas-based Quality Technology Services (QTS), a real estate investment fund focused on computing facilities announced plans to build in New Albany. 

In late October, QTS purchased two plots of land on Beech Road with plans to build two datacenters on each plot at a total cost of $1.5 billion. 

Two datacenters will be built totaling 885,600 square feet on the first 56-acre property. The second plot is 37 acres, and the two other datacenters will total roughly 612,600 square feet. 

QTS purchased the 93 acres for $11.2 million, according to a Bizjournal report. 

Dorsey Hager, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council Executive Secretary-Treasurer estimates the project will create about 700 construction jobs for affiliated union members.

The datacenters are designed to meet the rapid, large-scale developments in Columbus and will offer significant capacity to support ongoing growth in the well-connected and energy-rich Columbus region, a QTS representative said. 

The QTS megaproject adds to a growing list of datacenter megaprojects in Central Ohio. The closest datacenter to QTS will be Facebook, which is also located on Beech Road. 

Both campuses are near the $100 billion Intel project in New Albany.

Amazon, Google and DTS either operate datacenters, datacenter campuses or are in the process of constructing them in other areas of Central Ohio. 

The addition of another datacenter project further builds on the area’s reputation as the “Silicon Heartland,” which welcomes more work for the affiliated members of the C/COBCTC. 

“The announcement of new datacenters in Licking County adds to our portfolio of industrial technology factories and continues to help Central Ohio shake off the rustbelt status and cements our standing as the Silicon Heartland,” Hager said. “We’re going to get these datacenters up online as quickly as possible.  

“We’re going to have a lot of IBEW members, Laborers, Cement Workers and Mechanical Insulators (on site),” he added. “Eventually, we’ll have almost all the trades out there working.” 

 Datacenters create significant local revenue with a low impact on city services, traffic or the school population. 

“QTS has a great track record of being invested in the communities where they have built facilities. The company’s core values align closely with ours, and we’re excited that they are choosing to call New Albany home,” said New Albany’s Economic Development Manager Sara Zeigler. 

Construction is expected to begin in March 2024, with a completion date set for sometime during the fourth quarter of 2025.