Google's Massive $600M Data Center Takes Shape in Ellis County
Google's 375-acre data center campus in Midlothian is one of the largest such projects in the country.
The town of Midlothian was built on 20th-century industry: cement, steel and railroads. Now this Ellis County town is making a jump into the 21st century with a $600 million data center for internet giant Google.
The huge tech project is under construction along U.S. Highway 67. "We already have a lot of steel coming out of the ground and hundreds of construction workers on the site," said Andrew Silvestri, Google's head of public policy and community development. "They've made great progress already. We have deep roots in Texas and are about to get deeper as we launch our first-ever data center in Texas right here in Midlothian," Silvestri said.
Plans for the massive complex were disclosed about a year ago when Google quietly snapped up 375 acres in Midlothian's Railport industrial park. On Friday, Google executives and North Texas officials gathered to formally kick off the development.
Midlothian, which is 25 miles southwest of Dallas, provided tax abatements to support the data center, which is expected to employ about 40 people.
The deal is for 100% of personal property taxes — taxes on the servers, cabling and equipment that form the heart of a data center — and 85% of improvement taxes for Google over a 10-year period. The incentives are tied to the company's hiring and investment projections.
While the workforce at a data center is small, the importance of the centers for firms like Google can't be overstated. "Data centers are really the engine of the internet. Anytime you process an email on Gmail or look at a cat video on YouTube, it's going through a data center," Silvestri said. "If you are living in Texas or surrounding areas, it will likely be processed in that center. "It's these data centers that enable those products to run for billions and billions of users, not just here in Texas but around the world..."
