Major $785M data center is coming to the 27-acres former Trinity Steel site (Birmingham: tenant, salary)

[jero23]

DC BLOX building

Atlanta-based DC BLOX said today it is building a data center on the former Trinity Steel site in downtown Birmingham, creating 20 jobs initially with the potential to grow up to $785 million in capital investment and add jobs over the next decade.

The 31,000-square-foot first phase of the multi-tenant Birmingham data center joins others DC BLOX has built or announced in Huntsville, Atlanta and Chattanooga. DC BLOX plans to break ground in August and have a facility configurable up to 5 megawatts (MW) of customer capacity by early 2019.

As customers are added, the facility can grow up to 200,000 square feet and 80 MW.

This is huge because this is going to be one of the main westernmost anchors of the 100+ acre Innovation District that will encompass both sides of the I-65 corridor with the Innovation Depot as the easternmost anchor. There is more to come in the future to this area involving UAB announcing something for this area.

Also the average salary for the jobs will be $50,000-60,000+

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by jero23

DC BLOX building





This is huge because this is going to be one of the main westernmost anchors of the 100+ acre Innovation District that will encompass both sides of the I-65 corridor with the Innovation Depot as the easternmost anchor. There is more to come in the future to this area involving UAB announcing something for this area.

Also the average salary for the jobs will be $50,000-60,000+

It's funny how announcements differ. This one said 20 employees initially for B'ham, but the one in Huntsville said 50-100 employees at $80K. And it's the same dollar investment by the company. It's possible I've confused the Facebook data center that's also being built, but I think it was the same company as the B'ham one.

[TimCity2000]

not a huge jobs generator (especially at first), but a nice announcement nonetheless.

also nice to see large financial investments from out-of-town entities.

[steveklein]

Was hoping that site would be developed into something a little more substantial than a 20 employee data center because it is such a large tract of land so close to UAB and the city center. Figured something as simple as a data center could go basically anywhere; No need to be in the urbanized core. However, something is better than nothing... but I am skeptical this is going to transform Titusville in any meaningful way.

[cherokee48]

This is very good news and a great investment in Titusville, Birmingham and Jefferson County. I am hopeful and suspect that a campus such as this with its proximity to downtown will spur additional development once it gets up and running. I know only 20 jobs is not much as a start but almost a billion dollars investment is nothing to sneeze at. This is absolutely HUGE for our growing tech scene to have the flagship data center of DC BLOX calling Birmingham home.

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by jero23

DC BLOX building





This is huge because this is going to be one of the main westernmost anchors of the 100+ acre Innovation District that will encompass both sides of the I-65 corridor with the Innovation Depot as the easternmost anchor. There is more to come in the future to this area involving UAB announcing something for this area.

Also the average salary for the jobs will be $50,000-60,000+

In the link, a future location will also be in Mobile so they'll have Alabama covered pretty well.

[jero23]

Originally Posted by steveklein

Was hoping that site would be developed into something a little more substantial than a 20 employee data center because it is such a large tract of land so close to UAB and the city center. Figured something as simple as a data center could go basically anywhere; No need to be in the urbanized core. However, something is better than nothing... but I am skeptical this is going to transform Titusville in any meaningful way.

You do realize that there is going to be an actual technology and innovation district that will support hundreds to thousands other jobs in the area surrounding this project? 20 jobs is the starting amount but more are coming with the built out to 200,000 square feet. The location of this due to it being near a major data hub, fiber optic trunk line along I-65, and will be one of the anchors of this district.

[jero23]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

It's funny how announcements differ. This one said 20 employees initially for B'ham, but the one in Huntsville said 50-100 employees at $80K. And it's the same dollar investment by the company. It's possible I've confused the Facebook data center that's also being built, but I think it was the same company as the B'ham one.

https://www.al.com/news/huntsville/i...r_planned.html

I think you are confusing it with the Facebook hub. The DC BLOX Huntsville data center will only have 10-12 employees with a smaller capacity according to the Huntsville Times press release. The salaries are likely similar to the Birmingham data center though.

[JesseRohr]

Originally Posted by jero23

You do realize that there is going to be an actual technology and innovation district that will support hundreds to thousands other jobs in the area surrounding this project? 20 jobs is the starting amount but more are coming with the built out to 200,000 square feet. The location of this due to it being near a major data hub, fiber optic trunk line along I-65, and will be one of the anchors of this district.

The bold part can't be stated enough IMO.

[jero23]

The above diagram show Birmingham will truly be the flagship hub with 10 fiber optic trunk lines connecting to this proposed data center.