Facebook plans to build its 10th data center in New Albany in central Ohio, to open in 2019. The $750 million project comes with a mixture of local and state funding incentives.
Facebook’s Rachel Peterson says the project, which will get unspecified local and state tax credits, will be good for Ohio.
“It’s going to be delivering hundreds of millions of dollars of investment to the local community here and to the state, as well as thousands of construction jobs and hundreds of full-time operational jobs,” she said.
State leaders say the project will spur development from other tech companies. But Wendy Patton with Policy Matters Ohio isn’t so sure.
“Big money deal, a lot of impact, very little information. So it’s the way the game is played, but we think there’s a lot that could be done to improve the game,” she said.
The data center will create about a hundred permanent jobs. JobsOhio says this deal is the second largest in its four-year history.
