Alphabet's Google has bought a Dallas-area site slated for a data center that could deliver a $500 million investment.
The search giant purchased property in the city of Midlothian, said Andrew Silvestri, head of public policy and community relations for central U.S. at Google. As part of agreements with the city of Midlothian, Ellis County and the state of Texas, the site will be for a data center that's targeting a minimum of 40 jobs and an investment of $500 million over five years, according to a source familiar with the matter.
“While we do not have a confirmed timeline for development for the site, we want to ensure that we have the option to further grow should our business demand it," Silvestri said in an email.
The announcement comes after the Dallas Business Journal reported last month that a massive data center was slated in Midlothian, according to city documents. The site is near industrial operations such as a distribution center for Target. It is located in the southwest part of the city, according to the documents, which referred to a company called "Sharka LLC."
North Texas is becoming a more popular home for data centers with technology companies and others choosing the region to help handle the growing demand for digital information. The local area is ranked among the largest markets in the country in 2017, according to BBG, a commercial real estate valuation, advisory and assessment firm.
Other top areas include Northern Virginia, Chicago and Phoenix.
Facebook, another Silicon Valley giant, has a massive $1 billion data center campus in Fort Worth, and late last year the development team behind it filed permits for two additional halls. That operation has more than 200 employees.
As of 2018, Google has invested more than $10 billion equipping its data centers to deliver services, according to its website. Earlier this year, it officially broke ground on a $600 million data center in Montgomery County, Tennessee, the company said. Once up and running, it will employ more than 70 employees in full-time and contractor roles, including computer technicians and engineers, along with food services, maintenance, and security positions, the website said.
The company says the data centers have a positive impact economically. Other locations include Council Bluffs, Iowa; Douglas County, Georgia; and Lenoir, North Carolina.
“Google’s U.S. data centers generate significant income and economic activity for the communities around them and have created over 11,000 jobs," the company said.