Our Data Center Environment Is Growing Again
Attracting large-scale data centers to Greater Omaha has long been one of our key economic targets – and we’ve been hitting one bullseye after another.
Tech giant Google announced plans on Oct. 4 to build a data center campus in Papillion in Sarpy County. This project is going to bring jobs and an incredible amount of new capital investment ($500 million +) to the region. Certainly, this cements Greater Omaha as a major location for enterprise data centers.
Achievements like these don’t happen without plenty of coordination and collaboration. Over the past two years, The Sarpy County Economic Development Corporation (SCEDC) and broader Greater Omaha Economic Development Partnership played an integral role in securing the Google project, assisting with:
- Site selection
- Incentives
- Coordination of key players, including Papillion Mayor David Black and his staff, and representatives from the Nebraska Department of Economic Development
We send a special shout to Andrew Rainbolt, SCEDC executive director, for his leadership during this process, and we thank Google for its continued confidence in the region – the Sarpy County center enhancing an already-significant local presence. Since 2007, Google has invested over $2.5 billion into its Council Bluffs data center operation, created over 400 jobs on-site, and awarded more than $2 million to local schools and nonprofits.
In Sarpy County, Google joins a high-powered data center community that includes Facebook, Yahoo!, Fidelity, LightEdge, TierPoint and The Travelers Companies. Google’s new data center campus will cover 275 acres and could include up to 2.4 million square feet when fully built out.
Rest assured, these big wins only encourage us to work even harder to hit that bullseye again. We’re continually looking for sites we can make and certify “Go! Ready” for data center usage. We’re not shy about promoting the rest of the region’s significant data center assets: affordable and reliable power, bandwidth and infrastructure; water for cooling; affordable real estate; disaster avoidance and state and local incentives. Above all, we have the people to pull it off; a committed and skilled workforce that’s second to none. We don’t have to “Google it” to know that’s a fact.
Today’s another great day for Greater Omaha, Google and the power of partnership!
