Augusta data center plans curbed

A data center proposed for the site of a former cotton mill in Augusta, Georgia, is no longer ahead. Back in 2016, Cape Augusta Real Estate Development announced redevelopment plans for the site and outlined the project would go ahead under the name ‘Augusta Cyberworks.’ 

Original plans for the site stated that a 10MW data center would be powered with renewable energy from water in the Augusta Canal. Further to this, the site would have spanned 20-acres with 500,000 square feet (46,500 sqm) for the data center campus. Plans also included mixed-use office space.

Yet, as the years went on, MonteCristo Consultants, the company managing the project, began to realize that the facility, offering just 10MW of capacity, could not fulfil the needs of potential clients. This, ultimately, made the project redundant.

Speaking to the Augusta Chronicle about this realization, Robby Wray, CEO of MonteCristo Consultants, said: "It became abundantly clear that the type of tenant that the market's morphed to now looks at data centers that are 300 meg [megawatts/MW], 400 meg, 500 meg, not 10 or 20[MW]." Wray said. He added that there was simply "not enough space, not enough power” and that “the economics just didn't work."

Further redevelopment plans are yet to be finalized.