NEW ALBANY – Facebook plans to invest $750 million in a new data center in central Ohio, marking another boost for the state’s growing technology sector.
RELATED: Amazon plans “Instant Pickup” location for Columbus
The announcement came on the same day than Columbus was named the nation’s best city to work in the tech industry by SmartAsset, a financial advice website, and seemed to underscore the point.
The world’s biggest social media company announced Tuesday that its 10th data center will be on a 345-acre site in New Albany, just northeast of Columbus.
The center is expected to employ 100 people and begin providing services around 2019. The 900,000-square-foot facility will be powered exclusively with renewable energy.
“We’re thrilled to have found a home in Ohio and to embark on this exciting partnership,” said Erin Egan, Facebook’s vice president of U.S. Public Policy. “Everything here has been as advertised — from a committed set of community partners and strong pool of talent to the opportunity to power our facility with 100 percent renewable energy. The Buckeye State is a great place to do business.”
Republican Gov. John Kasich and other dignitaries were on hand to celebrate the announcement and Kasich boasted of what Ohio is doing to develop tech talent at colleges and to attract tech jobs around the state that pay well.
“One of our goals has been … to diversify the state,” Kasich said during a press conference that took place at New Albany City Hall. “Ohio has had a heavy reliance on manufacturing.”
“Facebook coming to central Ohio is a welcome addition to Licking County and will pair great with Amazon and the growing number of technology companies already located here,” said state Sen. Jay Hottinger (R-Newark), who called Ohio “the Silicon Valley of the East.”
The first phase is slated for completion in 2019, and the second phase is to open in 2020. Facebook expects to have 100 permanent employees there, the majority in technical positions that pay well. It’s expected that about 1,000 construction jobs will be created during the building phase.
“Jobs are coming back to Ohio, and I will continue working for tax and regulatory reforms that allow the economy to grow, create more jobs and boost wages, and improve the lives of Ohio families,” Republican U.S. Sen. Rob Portman.
In SmartAsset’s survey, Columbus moved up from No. 4 last year to No 1 on the list of the best U.S. cities for tech jobs, citing the fact that tech workers in Columbus are paid 1.82 times more than the average worker in all fields — $88,700 a year — while the cost of living in Columbus is about 10 percent below the national average.
Facebook has been adding data centers in the U.S. and internationally to handle the growing number of photos, videos and additional digital content from its 2 billion users.
E-commerce giant Amazon launched three cloud-computing data center sites in Ohio last year.