Intuit Planning Data Center in Quincy, Wash.

Financial software giant Intuit is planning to build a data center in Quincy, Wash., which would become the fourth major data center project in the small central Washington town. Intuit, which makes Quicken and Quickbooks software, appeared before the Quincy City Counil Tuesday night to discuss its plans.

Three other major facilities are already planned for the area, which has become magnet for power-hungry data centers due to the availability of cheap hydro electricity from local dams, as well as advanced fiber infrastructure. Microsft has announced plans for a huge data center complex in Quincy, while Yahoo and Sabey Corp. are starting projects in nearby Wenatchee.

Intuit hopes to build a data center on 63 acres of land on Road 11 in Quincy, according to the Columbia Basin Herald, which said the company hopes to begin construction in early 2007. To conclude the land purchase for a data center, the land must be included within the Quincy Urban Growth Area, the paper said. To be included in the growth area, Intuit submitted an application to Grant County to rezone the development site as an industrial site, Intuit Vice President David Merenbach told council members.