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Dublin, Ohio, Wants Amazon Data Center, Will Offer Free Land

Development officials asked Dublin City Council to approve incentives to bring the project to the city’s West Innovation District, an area the city is promoting for high-tech development.

The city of Dublin is considering stepping into the effort to woo Amazon.com to build a $1.1 billion data center in central Ohio.

Dublin development officials have asked Dublin City Council to approve incentives to bring the project to the city’s West Innovation District, an area the city is promoting for high-tech development.

The incentives for the Amazon project would include 68 acres worth $6.8 million, site improvements such as water and sewer lines and roads, and performance incentives that could be worth up to $500,000 over 10 years for the company.

The offer, which the council is expected to vote on this month, comes after the Ohio Tax Credit Authority approved tax incentives last month for Vadata, a subsidiary of the online-retailing giant that is part of Amazon Web Services. The state incentives would be worth an estimated $81 million.

“There are other sites in play. We are going forward as if we are the site,” said Dana McDaniel, the city’s director of development. “We have the attitude that we can certainly gain their commitment to us.”

Amazon’s $1.1 billion investment would be made over three years and would create 120 jobs. Each job would pay about $80,000 a year.

Amazon has not committed to the project in the region beyond saying it is always looking to expand its geographic reach to improve its operations. Columbus 2020, the region’s economic-development arm, has declined to comment.

Dublin is targeting the West Innovation District for high-tech office space, research-and-development facilities, information technology and clean-manufacturing facilities, according to a city memo.

McDaniel said the Amazon project would serve as the anchor tenant for the district.

“It has the potential to attract and create an information-technology supply chain, continuing to solidify Dublin’s position as a leader in this business sector,” he said. “The project will bring significant investment in facilities, equipment and critical infrastructure in the form of fiber optics and broadband expansion.”

McDaniel cited as a similar development OhioHealth’s Dublin Methodist Hospital, which has attracted a related medical cluster and Ohio University’s Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Last week, Expedient Data Centers announced a plan for a $52 million data and cloud-computing center in the city’s Shier Rings TechFlex District.

On Monday night, the council approved giving 10 acres worth $1 million in the West Innovation District to Command Alkon, which is relocating its offices.

The company, a software developer that supports that cement and concrete industries, plans to build a 30,000-square-foot office that would open next summer, said Randy Willaman, director of the company’s Ohio operations.

The move will support the company’s expansion plans and make its operations more efficient, he said. The company plans to add about 20 workers to its existing staff of about 60 over the next several years.

McDaniel lists a variety of reasons for the region’s success at winning high-tech projects: a quality labor force, cheap electricity prices compared with other parts of the country and access to broadband and fiber optics.

“All these things combined are certainly testimony why data centers are, in general, happening more and more in this area,” he said.

The council is expected to vote on Sept. 22 on whether to proceed with the Amazon offer.

©2014 The Columbus Dispatch (Columbus, Ohio)