Bed Bath & Beyond Picks NC for Data Center

Efforts to build on the success of the "Google-Apple Corridor" in western North Carolina appear to be paying dividends. This week officials in Catawba County announced that Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. will build a $36.8 million data center in Claremont, N.C. The company will locate the data center in the 48,000 square foot Center Point shell building in the Claremont International Business Park.

The new facility will create a minimum of 7 new jobs by the end of 2018. To attract those jobs, Catawba County and the city of Claremont will offer up to $955,722 in grants tied to tax revenue from real estate and personal property.

"The addition of another data center in Catawba County helps solidify our presence as the NC Data Center Corridor,” said Kitty Barnes, Chair of the Catawba County Commissioners. “Data centers are attracted to our area for good reasons, such as low cost electricity, abundant water and existing telecommunications. We are excited
to add another data center to our growing information technology cluster.”

The Bed Bath & Beyond site is about 10 miles from a major Apple data center in Maiden, and Facebook and Google also operate data centers in the area. Western North Carolina was once a thriving area for textile mills. Many of these mills have departed or closed, leaving behind industrial-strength power and water infrastructure that’s ideally suited for data center development. Duke Energy’s power rates are competitive, with industrial electricity rates at about 5 cents per kilowatt hour.  State and local governments have been generous with offers of tax incentives, which have been a key factor in winning major deals.

“The shell building developed by Niagara Ventures provided a great building option for Bed Bath & Beyond,” said Scott Millar, President of the Catawba County Economic Development Corporation. “This is just another example of when our community has the right product the business will come.”

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. was founded in 1971 and operates 1,400 stores across the United States. “We are very appreciative of the cooperation of both Catawba County and the City of Claremont and look forward to continuing to work together," said Steven Temares, CEO of Bed Bath & Beyond.