A US data center firm is expanding into Virginia, with plans for a new data center in Richmond.
First reported by Richmond Bizsense, BWS Enterprises has filed with Henrico County for permission to develop a data center in Richmond. The company owns the land and is filing on behalf of DC Blox.
The companies are filing to rezone parts of a 27-acre site for a data center campus.
Specifications of the data center were not shared in filings, but DC Blox told the publication it will be developing a 70,000 sq ft (6,500 sqm), 10MW facility, followed by a second building totaling 40MW and 125,000 sq ft (11,610 sqm).
The property is located on the north line of Azalea Avenue, between Richmond Henrico Turnpike and Wilkinson Road. A large gravel parking lot takes up most of the subject property, with two buildings adjacent to Azalea Avenue and Wilkinson Road.
The first building would see an investment of $100 million and the second building $400 million, the company told Richmond BS. If the rezoning is approved, DC Blox will purchase the site and start the first building in two years.
County Staff have recommended deferral of the request to provide the applicant time to address concerns and questions outlined by staff and raised by residents at a recent community meeting. While the proposed data center use is consistent with the Light Industry designation, concerns have been raised around noise and aesthetics.
The property is the site of the Azalea Flea Market – BWS has owned the land since 1998.
According to Richmond BS, DC Blox likes the site for its connectivity to Dominion Energy’s power grid and its separation from other parts of the county where data center development has been more prevalent.
“Richmond’s had a lot of upward trends as a data center market,” said Chris Gatch, executive vice president and chief revenue officer at DC Blox. “Our anchor customer that we’re building the initial building for, their application is more of a network application, so part of what took us up in that direction and away from a lot of the data center development that is more south near the airport is achieving some diversification from that area.”
The company declined to name the anchor customer.
DC Blox operates facilities across Atlanta, Georgia; Birmingham and Huntsville, Alabama; and Chattanooga, Tennessee, as well as a cable landing station in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
The company is planning another facility in High Point, North Carolina, and recently announced plans for a new 45MW data center campus in South Carolina's Berkeley County. It has also filed to build a cable landing station in Florida.
