Google makes move to break ground on New Data Center in TD
Here is the property at 3500 River Road in the Port of The Dalles where Google is currently proposing to site a 290,000-square-foot data center. Once Google breaks ground, Wasco County and The Dalles will get a $3-million payment.
By Tom Peterson
Google has started the process of building a new data center in The Dalles after the Whiting-Turner contracting company submitted an application for a 290,000-square foot data center at 3500 River Road.
The property is owned by Design LLC, a company owned by Google.
The application triggers a 45-day process for the planning procedure and the groundbreaking is likely months away.
Location of new data center - click to enlarge.
If approved and constructed, it will be the fourth such data center for Google in The Dalles, and its construction has been estimated to cost as much as $600 million to develop.
Google has agreed to pay up to 50 percent of property taxes on the structure once it is operable through fees and property taxes.
The Dalles Mayor Rich Mays
“We’re happy to see them progress,” said The Dalles Mayor Rich Mays. “I would expect another data center at a later time. I am happy this is happening.”
The application comes after years of negotiations where a team of city and county members put together a two-data center package that will bring up to $125 million in estimated new property taxes and fees, according to Mays.
The agreement abates an estimated $147 million in property taxes during the 20-year term of the deal.
At the same time, the agreement captures 50 percent and 60 percent of total property taxes - which is much more than past Google deals for data centers in The Port of The Dalles.
Click here to read our story on Google payment negotiations with the City of The Dalles and Wasco County.
Click here to see where the community service fee money will go.
Signing Bonus
Google’s company Design LLC will pay a one-time $3 million initial payment for each data center, payable within 60 days of submission of each data center building construction-in-process form for each project. If both are built, the total payment would be $6 million. The City and County will decide how the money will be spent.
That first payment could be made in months to come when the ground is broken on the new data center.
“I think Google has been a good partner,” Mays said this morning, Sept. 20. “Negotiations were pretty long, (more than a year) but it will be a good development for Wasco county, The Dallas and the community. “
Google’s planning application also comes on the heels of The City of The Dalles’ Dog River Pipeline replacement project that kicked off earlier this summer near Mount Hood.
The century-old wooden pipeline leaked up to a million gallons of water per day during peak runoff.
Google’s two new data plants will rely on surface water captured in ground reservoirs at the new data center site, the former aluminum smelter in the Port of The Dalles.
To read more about water usage and Google's $28.5 million commitment to build out the City’s potable water infrastructure, click here.
County Commissioner Steve Kramer, who remains somewhat skeptical of future payments, said the fact that Google is working through the planning process was a good sign.
Wasco County Commissioner
Steve Kramer
“Sweet,” Kramer said upon hearing the news. “I did not expect to hear that this soon.”
“But, I am more concerned with the first data center,” he said. “That’s coming to fruition” - Google’s first data center will pay 100 percent of its property taxes this fall - “and we will see what kind of a tax payment we get from them. “
Kramer said he worried that data center uses could change and devalue over time, making tax payments to the County smaller than first projected.
Nothing has been seen yet to suggest such a situation is occurring.
Was a year of negotiations worth it?
“Yep, absolutely,” he said. “Every outside dollar we get into the community is definitely a win.”
