Australian real estate firm Stockland is to build a new data center in Sydney, possibly for Amazon Web Services.
The company was recently granted permission to build a new facility – known in planning documents as Athena – at the M_Park business park in Macquarie Park, to the north of Sydney.
The Australian Financial Review reports the data center will be a five-story facility leased to a ‘major cloud computing provider,’ which the publication reports is believed to be AWS.
The data center will have an end-value of AU$264 million (US$204.3 million); it will include 6,300 sqm (67,800 sq ft) of data halls, 3,215 sqm (34,600 sq ft) of office space, and more than 13,000 sqm (140,000 sq ft) for electrical and mechanical services. The site would include at least 10 diesel generators. Construction is expected to start in September and be completed by March 2023.
The New South Wales Government fast-tracked the application as a State Significant Development (SSD).
“Fast-tracking data center assessments are a key part of the NSW government’s planning reforms,” said Planning Minister Rob Stokes. “Our increased reliance on digital technologies means the demand for the physical infrastructure underpinning these technologies is growing.”
The NSW Government says the project will create 400 construction jobs and up to 50 operational jobs when complete.
Stockland said it had “obtained SSDA approval for the construction and operation of a data center at our M_Park site.”
“Stockland has entered into a heads of agreement executed with a data center operator for a building at M_Park,” it added.
M_Park is also due to be home to a new Johnson & Johnson headquarters, Stockland is also building a 10-level office tower at 11 Khartoum Road with 16,000 sqm (172,200 sq ft) of lettable space.
