AWS US East (Ohio): Amazon secures land in Dublin and Hilliard for new data centers

Amazon Web Services has tied up two of the three sites for its planned data center network in Central Ohio.

Public records show Amazon Web Services' Vadata Inc. affiliate bought 58.2 acres at Hayden Run Road between Britton Parkway and Interstate 270 in Hilliard from Trueman LP for $8.3 million.

The city has approved incentives to prompt the cloud-computing division of e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc. (NYSE:AMZN) to invest $225 million to $300 million in the community and create 25 jobs in a $10 million, 120,000-square-foot facility.

"What you're telling me is encouraging," said Hilliard Mayor Don Schonhardt, who hadn't heard the land deal had closed. "What we've done (with incentives) is prudent and a reasonable package they would accept. The ultimate decision was theirs."

In Dublin, the city transferred 68 acres at Houchard Road and Route 161 to Vadata for free as its incentive for what could become a 750,000-square-foot data center anchoring the company's operations in the region. The agreement calls for Vadata to add 25 jobs and to build its facility by 2024.

The land, near the Route 33 interchange, is within the city's West Innovation District that also includes the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine branch campus.

Colleen Gilger, Dublin's economic development director, declined to comment.

A third site in Delaware County remains in limbo. Orange Township's zoning and planning commission has yet to vote on rezoning 74 acres of residential development land at Route 23 and Home Road. The panel continues to work through issues with Amazon's representative, Grandview Heights architect Mark Ford, regarding the construction of a data center near residential neighborhoods. A decision could come in March.

Amazon Web Services in August received state tax incentives worth more than $81 million for what it said would be a $1.1 billion project in the region.

Article originally appeared on Columbus Business Journal