Microsoft Azure: Microsoft acquires 200 acres in New Albany for development of a data center

Microsoft has purchased a property in New Albany, Ohio, to probably construct a data center. Microsoft has reportedly acquired nearly 200 acres near Beech Road for a data center, as reported by the Newark Advocate. The Licking County Auditor's Office verified Microsoft paid $56.9 million to MBJ Holdings, a subsidiary of New Albany Company.

The property is between Beech Road and the Licking-Franklin county boundary and north of Fitzwilliam Lane NW, just south of a 200-acre parcel recently purchased by Amazon. AWS and Google have an extensive presence in the Columbus metropolitan area, including New Albany, Licking County. Also, Meta has a campus in New Albany.

The New Albany Company has previously submitted to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) plans for multiple data center projects in the area, some connected to Amazon-owned property. The company has multiple filings with the OEAP; the North Beech Corridor East, which overlaps Amazon's land purchase, refers to a 4.7 million-square-foot data center facility on the east side of Beech Road NW, comprised of 10 or 11 data center structures depending on the configuration. Further applications for a North Beech Corridor West on the opposite side of Beech Road NW indicate a 7,500,000-square-foot, 18-building data center complex.

Plans call for 18 buildings totaling a combined 414,725 square feet on the west side, along with a 52,270 square foot office building and 28 acres for a substation. On the east side of the road and spanning Miller Road, New Albany Co. proposes 11 structures, each 414,725 square feet, a 52,270 square foot office building, and 11 acres for a substation.

The two sites' construction costs could reach $10 billion. The planned construction would give "an undisclosed, confidential user" expanded facility space.