Google purchases 148 acres for two new spy centers they will use to spy on the public

David Dickinson - your hypothesis about competition from other areas is somewhat flawed.  One of the primary reasons we are seeing an explosion of DCs in the Ashburn area isn’t because of county tax incentives but because of critical mass.  New data centers are being built here because the first data centers were built here and those were built because of the network infrastructure that was already in place.  As the DC footprint has grown, so has the network and power footprint.  Not something another area can simply duplicate without incredible up front investment. 

Regarding the comment about the types of jobs the DCs will bring, you simply don’t know what you’re talking about.  DC jobs are not H1 jobs for a variety of reasons.

John M, you are correct, the need will increase as more items require data storage.

However, the real threat IMHO is that other municipalities want to get in on the action because they see the $$$ Loudoun is pulling in from these data centers.  I forsee Loudoun getting into data center wars with other municipalities and then we get into a pricing war, which will require increasingly greater tax incentives.  Since Loudoun is inherently an expensive place to be located, we eventually will not be able to compete with less expensive locations.

In a 10 year window, I think that is a greater risk than lack of demand.  But, couple growing competition with growing data efficiencies and I believe we will get a 1-2 punch in the future.

But, until then, its a cash cow.

I’m surprised more Ashburn residents aren’t weighing in about how the data centers absolutely ruined the once beautiful tree lined drive into Ashburn and why Leesburg residents don’t also see the writing on the wall with so much land surrounding Leesburg. The Eastern end of the County is already ruined.

“Hooray 50 more H1B visa jobs.” LoudounRes, my thoughts exactly.

Anyone curious about the kinds of jobs Google posts for its data centers should visit careers.google.com, and search on a location like “Council Bluffs, IA, USA”.

When will Google Fiber be available in Ashburn?

Hooray 50 more H1B visa jobs.  How about getting actual offices to Loudoun county so the residents don’t have to commute to Fairfax, Arlington or DC?

Ben, given that what a data center is - minus the very expensive, but highly component-ized and removable cabinets of computer servers - is just a concrete slab with 4 walls and a low to non-load bearing roof - not unlike a Walmart store - they are ‘relatively’ cheap to build, and offer either wide ranges of re-use, or easy demolition and a fresh start. The parking lots and fire lanes are, again, minimal relative speaking, and either repurpose-able or removable.

I agree, the spatial needs will decrease going fwd, and the question is, will the space needs equate to make these boxes fully used, or will we see them ‘thrown away’ like we see big-box store sites all over the country.  There are several reasons we don’t see multi-story data centers, but I’d bet the number one is, it is still cheaper to build up than out, even at these land prices.  And that is why data centers are not built in Manhattan. The mix of property price point and the available necessities of fiber, energy, talent equate to Data Alley.  The depreciation and tax circumstances of real estate is also as much a component of a data center developer or Wal-mart as is the core function (servers, retail sales).

Perhaps Google will someday bring broadband internet access to western Loudoun….

Many residents enjoy taking their kids to a coffee shop or fast food joint when their homework requires internet access.

David Dickinson and Ben Weber- I wouldn’t worry so much about what happens to these buildings in 10 years. The thirst for bandwidth in America and the world is not decreasing and telecommunications companies have invested billions into their infrastructure, right here in Loudoun County, so they are not going anywhere for a really long time. As technology advances and servers become smaller and require less cooling, maybe use less power, the companies will simply install more servers, as this has been happening for the past 15 years or more. Servers used to be huge, taking up three times the space and hogging more power and cooling than they do now, but one thing has not changed- bandwidth usage will continue to rise. Every day, new uses for bandwidth arise as more companies allow workers to do their work from home, appliances, machinery, vehicles, etc. all connect to the internet and it is not slowing down at all. 10 years will come and go before we know it and those data centers will still be well in use. The only time you see a data center abandoned is when the cost to replace the HVAC and other systems becomes too much of a burden- and that happens to smaller providers, who usually sell off to a bigger one.
Chris McHale- 50 new jobs sounds about right to run two data centers. Data centers are 24/7/365 operations so employing 25 people at each space is about right. They need technicians, electricians, HVAC people and security on site or on call at all times.

Wow, that is a major tax break. Computers equipment in those huge buildings not having to pay personal property tax, probably saves them $10-20+ Million per year. I wish my Small Businesses didn’t have to pay that tax, same goes for my house/property tax that keeps going up every year(27 years in Loudoun).
Good thing metro will be coming out to Ashburn/Loudoun. I’m sure we’ll get hit with another $1K tax to help subsidize that debacle.

Ben Walker - In ten years Loudoun will be the home to the largest collection of indoor skate parks.

How else is Loudoun County going to pay for all the misguided past mistakes, but by making even bigger mistakes that impact our future. Besides, it provides a one stop shop for bad guys to shut down 70% of the worlds internet.