Governments across Georgia, including metro Augusta, are seeing proposals for multimillion-dollar projects requesting zoning and building permits.
The projects are data centers, networked computer servers for remote storage, processing, or distribution of large amounts of data.
Documents for a Development of Regional Interest (DRI) have been filed with the Georgia Department of Community Affairs showing a property on Gordon Highway has been earmarked for a data center by a company listed as Eagle South, LLC. The DRI identifies the name of the development as Project Eisenhower.
Although no company has formally announced plans to build a data center in Richmond County, Cal Wray, President of the Augusta Economic Development Authority (AEDA), said it will be just a matter of time.
“Because of all of our devices connected to all the data, and how do you store all of that data, and that’s only going to continue to grow as technology continues to advance,” he told ABD. “Especially with AI. AI is really data-driven now, having machine learning and having to contain all that data.”
A November 2024 article posted by LandGate (www.landgate.com/news/data-centers-rescuing-commercial-realestate#:~:text=Data%20Centers%20and%20Commercial%20Real,growth%20is%20lagging%20behind%20demand) included a report from Moody’s that data centers could help the commercial real estate market. Landgate provides data solutions for site selection and financing for projects including data centers.
“According to Moody’s, data centers are some of the most valuable, if not the most valuable, properties in the investment-grade commercial real estate universe in 2024. Supply growth is lagging behind demand,” the article read.
Wray agrees projects may increase the development of commercial properties for data centers, which have a lesser impact than manufacturing.
“They don’t have walk-in traffic, they don’t have the need for storefronts, they don’t have the need for customers to come in, except on a small-scale basis,” he said.
But data centers have a requirement, unlike other types of commercial development.
“They’re really driven by power. It’s the electrical grid,” he said. “Everyone that we talk to, it’s ‘Where’s power, how much power do you have, and how can I connect to it?’ It’s not a workforce question. It’s not a land availability question. It’s where’s my power, and what sites do you have that I can get to that power.”
According to the Georgia Department of Economic Development, the Peach State is home to more than 50 data centers. Many are in the metro Atlanta counties.
The amount of power that data centers require to operate caught the attention of the Georgia Legislature. In the 2024 legislative session, both chambers approved House Bill 1129. It would have implemented a two-year pause on the sales and use tax exemptions Georgia offers to data centers and data center customers.
Gov. Brian Kemp (R) vetoed the bill.
“Only two years ago the legislature extended these tax exemptions for an additional three years, through 2031. The bill’s language would prevent the issuance of exemption certificates after an abrupt July 1, 2024, deadline for many customers of projects that are already in development—undermining the investments made by high-technology data center operators, customers, and other stakeholders in reliance on the recent extension, and inhibiting important infrastructure and job development,” read Kemp’s veto message.
“Some communities want data centers. Some communities don’t want data centers. It’s kind of a double-edged sword, or it’s kind of a fine line to walk,” said Wray. “Our manufacturers are large power users and large job creators. Data centers are large investments and large power users, but they don’t have large job creation. So, how do you handle both when they’re both looking for power and one creates jobs, one creates a smaller amount of jobs? So that I think is where the concern comes in, and just the security of the grid.”
Columbia County is also being considered for a data center along Ray Owens Rd. Applicant Zachary Lewallen, owner of Hypertek Solutions, filed a request to rezone about four acres from R-A (Residential Agricultural) to S-1 (Special).
In part, the application reads,“…the subject property is critical to this business because of its strategic location of direct fiber access between two nodes located along the road frontage of the parcel. The applicant proposes a private office, workshop, and data center for a cybersecurity company (planned to provide 12 server racks maximum). Per the narrative, the office/data center building is approximately 12,000 square feet and would be in the center of the property with the workshop, which is approximately 4,400 square feet.”
The Planning Commission approved Lewallen’s request to withdraw the application until he can schedule a town hall meeting to address what he called misinformation about the project.
While Richmond and Columbia Counties await formal announcements, Aiken County is up by two lengths. Construction of the Meta facility is underway in the Sage Mill Industrial Park and DC Blox announced plans to build along Atomic Road in North Augusta. Tomorrow in part two, ABD will highlight those centers.
