Report: Amazon's Massive $1.1bn Ohio Data Center Project Swaps Townships

There has been heated competition in Ohio to land a $1.1 billion Amazon Web Services Data Center project. That project was recently reported to be split across three townships: Hilliard, Dublin and Orange Township. Columbus Business first reports that Amazon subsidiary Vadata has withdrawn an application to rezone 75 acres in Delaware County’s Orange Township in favor of New Albany.

Several counties have been vying for the massive project listed under Amazon subsidiary Vadata, . Last week, New Albany council unanimously approved tax incentives for the project in a bid to attract part of the project. Architect Mark Ford notified Orange Township in a letter on Monday that Project Sandstone’s application is being formally withdrawn. Amazon officials aren’t commenting.

The Orange Township location is surrounded by homes, and the Columbus Dispatch reports that many residents were concerned about noise from the data centers.

Amazon is no stranger to Not In My Backyard (NIMBY), also embroiled in a controversy in Northern Virginia regarding a proposed power line from Dominion feeding the planned data center.

The tax package offered by New Albany most likely tipped the scales, however Orange Township had offered Amazon a healthy 15-year 100 percent property tax abatement.

Dublin offered Amazon land valued at $6.8 million and performance incentives worth up to $500,000 over ten years.Hilliard offered a real estate tax abatement valued at $5.4 million, wage tax rebates and permit fee waivers. Construction in Hilliard has reportedly begun.

This is in addition to incentives from the Ohio Tax Credit Authority, worth an estimated $81 million.

The New Albany facility will employ 25 with an annual payroll of $2 million. Amazon could potentially invest $300 million of the planned $1.1 billion project in New Albany. Hilliard legislation suggests its portion of the project will also be a $300 million investment.

A city community development director said that the New Albany data center will include a 150,000-square-foot building on 68 acres north of state Route 161 and east of Beech Road in New Albany’s International Personal Care and Beauty Campus.