Forest City, N.C., was once known as Burnt Chimney. But smokestacks are definitely a thing of the past, thanks to the social media giant Facebook, which is investing another $200 million to expand its data center campus there with a third, 480,000-sf building.
Construction reportedly is underway in Forest City, which lies between Asheville, N.C., and Greenville, S.C.
In a blog he posted on Facebook, Keven McCammon, the data center’s site manager, said that construction would add to a project that already has created “thousands of jobs in the regional economy and millions of dollars in economic impact.”
There’s no question that Facebook’s presence has been a boon to Forest City and its 7,400 local residents. The company invested $450 million into the first two buildings that each span 300,000 sf. RTI International, a firm Facebook retained to measure its economic impact, found that between 2011 and 2013 the data center had generated a total gross economic impact of $707 million and supported 5,000 jobs in North Carolina.
And since 2011, Facebook has awarded an estimated $575,000 to schools and qualified nonprofits in Rutherford County, where Forest City is located. Facebook recently agreed to support a pilot program to provide free WiFi access to 75 to 100 students in the local school district.
Office space at Facebook's data center in Forest City.
Facebook, along with other tech companies, has favored North Carolina for its data center because of the state’s low-cost, reliable and available power, relatively inexpensive land, available water (at Forest City, Facebook is deploying evaporative cooling, which requires mist spray to cool the air as it enters the facility), proximity to East Coast customers, and generous tax incentives.
In June, Facebook announced plans to build a third data center on its campus in Altoona, Iowa, where its first data center there was already operational and a second was under construction. One month later, it broke ground on construction of a data center in Fort Worth, Texas, for which the company will invest $500 million in three 250,000-sf buildings. That data center, when it opens next year, will be powered entirely by wind power.
Facebook was the recipient of a $146.7 million incentive package from Fort Worth to locate its data center there. The Associated Press reports that state governments across the country over the past decade have extended nearly $1.5 billion in tax incentives to hundreds of data center projects initiated by various tech companies.
Facebook also has data centers in Pineville, Ore., and Lulea, Sweden.
Related Stories
Smart Buildings | Oct 26, 2020
World’s first smart building assessment and rating program released
The SPIRE Smart Building Program will help building owners and operators make better investment decisions, improve tenant satisfaction, and increase asset value.
BIM and Information Technology | Oct 8, 2020
4 challenges of realizing BIM's value for an owner
In recent years, we have found our consulting practice engaging more and more with owners that are questioning the value of BIM and how they can make use of potentially data-rich BIM assets.
AEC Tech | Feb 5, 2020
BIM London: A glimpse of BIM discussions across the pond
Digital twin, ISO standards, blockchain, and data were the hot topics at the recent The Digital World: BIM event.
Building Technology | Mar 6, 2019
Australia’s prefab construction sector is trying to break out from its 'getting there' stage
A paper by Deloitte looks back at an origin case study. But the country has yet to develop a fully formed industry.
BIM and Information Technology | Jan 18, 2019
BIM: Sharing is caring
Sharing of and reliance on BIM data is central to the idea that BIM will lead to a more efficient, more economical, and more collaborative construction process.
BIM and Information Technology | Jan 10, 2019
'BIM to AR' comes to the masses
Could new technology that simplifies the transfer of BIM models to augmented reality push AEC firms to go all in on extended reality?
Building Technology | Dec 20, 2018
Autodesk is spending $1.15 billion to acquire two construction tech providers
PlanGrid and BuildingConnected are the latest pieces in the company’s quest to digitize the construction industry.
Building Technology | Dec 18, 2018
Data and analytics are becoming essential for EC firms competing to rebuild America’s infrastructure
A new paper from Deloitte Consulting advises companies to revise their strategies with an eye toward leveraging advanced technologies.
Sponsored | BIM and Information Technology | Oct 15, 2018
3D scanning data provides solutions for challenging tilt-up panel casino project
At the top of the list of challenges for the Sandia project was that the building’s walls were being constructed entirely of tilt-up panels, complicating the ability to locate rebar in event future sleeves or penetrations would need to be created.
BIM and Information Technology | Aug 16, 2018
Say 'Hello' to erudite machines
Machine learning represents a new frontier in the AEC industry that will help designers create buildings that are more efficient than ever before.