By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Plans for a $750 million data center north of Bowling Green got a stamp of approval Thursday morning from the Wood County Commissioners, who agreed to a tax abatement for the facility.
A company, called Liames LLC, has already purchased some acreage in the area of Ohio 582 between Ohio 25 and Interstate 75. The plans call for a total investment of $240 million for the purchase of about 750 acres and $510 million for the buildings, machinery and equipment, according to Wade Gottschalk, executive director of the Wood County Economic Development Commission.
Once completed, the Middleton Township site is expected to employ about 50 people, earning an average of $80,000 a year, he told the county commissioners.
“This is yet another tech project that can help us move away from our rust belt reputation,” said Commissioner Craig LaHote.
The site is equipped with features needed for a data center, starting with the availability of large acreage, Gottschalk said. Through the Northwestern Water and Sewer District, it has access to water, which is vital for the cooling of servers. The acreage is close to a source of electricity, with the First Energy substation nearby on Mercer Road. And fiber-optic lines traverse the area, which could carry large amounts of information to and from the data center.
As is customary with these types of large projects, the developer sought a Community Reinvestment Area agreement with the county. On Thursday morning, the county commissioners agreed to a 75% tax abatement for 15 years for the project.
The school districts potentially impacted by the tax abatements have already approved agreements to get their share of the property taxes.
“We had to have those already in the hopper” for the deal to be approved by the county, Gottschalk said. Both Eastwood and Otsego school districts will likely get about $1 million a year from the project, he added.
But Gottschalk cautioned that the money to the school districts won’t be coming anytime soon.
“This is not money they are going to see at least until the end of 2030,” he said.
While the CRA agreement will last 15 years, the next step for the developer is getting a Tax Incentive Financing agreement to help with public infrastructure costs, Gottschalk said. The TIF, which could stretch an additional 15 years, will likely come before the county commissioners for approval in the next month or so.
The plans for the data center call for two buildings between 300,000 and 400,000 square feet each, according to Chris Knezevic, an attorney representing Liames LLC. The buildings will have a very simple exterior design, and inside will be “a lot, a lot, a lot of computer servers,” he said.
“On the inside, it’s all technology,” Knezevic said, with “access to data from all over.”
Data center facilities house IT infrastructure for building, running, and delivering applications and services, and for storing and managing the data associated with those applications and services.
Knezevic said he did not know if the proposed site in Wood County would be used by one company or serve several customers.
Data centers have evolved in recent years from facilities housing traditional IT infrastructure for the exclusive use of one company, to facilities owned by cloud service providers for the shared use of multiple companies and customers.
Unlike many industrial sites, the data center is expected to generate minimal truck traffic and have little impact to the area. The footprint for the project includes acreage on the north and south sides of Route 582, between the Northwestern Water and Sewer District and Mercer Road.
However, a neighbor of the proposed data center, Russ Fought, said his home just to the west of the project will be greatly affected.
“I’m not against economic development,” he said at the county commissioners meeting. “I’m not against this project.”
Fought praised the work of county economic development officials for doing a great job. As a third generation bricklayer, he said he benefits from economic growth.
“You’re doing a great job keeping the county in the black,” he said.
But this is different than previous projects, “because it wasn’t across from my house,” he said.
And with property owners facing stiff increases from the recent land revaluations, this is a bad time to be offering tax abatements to newcomers, Fought said.
“I’m against giving away so much – as taxpayers,” he said.
Fought said Wood County has what the developer is looking for – land, water, electricity – and there is no need to offer tax abatements as well.
“We have the assets that they need and they want,” he said.
However, both Knezevic and Gottschalk said the abatements can make or break a deal.
“It’s an important factor,” Knezevic said. “It’s one piece of the puzzle. There are a lot of factors to consider.”
The TIF agreement is the same. “It can be very important for infrastructure costs,” Gottschalk said. “It’s leveling the playing field for other sites or other states.”
Knezevic voiced thanks to Wood County and Middleton Township officials for helping make the project happen.
“I want to express my gratitude,” he said. “We appreciate all the support we’ve gotten.”
