BY DAVE RESS STAFF WRITER
One of Hampton Roads’ most historic corners is looking to jump into one of the hottest business innovations — York County is looking to land a $60 million data center.
T-Rex Ventures LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, wants to build a data center at the York River Commerce Center, according to York County Board of Supervisors’ records.
Data centers — the earth-bound home of the Internet cloud to which businesses are hurrying to house various IT functions — are a top target for state economic development officials. A flock of them have already made Northern Virginia into one of the world’s largest concentrations of data centers and they are a top priority for economic development officials in South Hampton Roads.
T-Rex’s plan is to buy 23 acres at the business park, once it lines up tenants for the first 20,000 square feet of a 161,890-square-foot facility.
The county and its economic development authority are proposing an incentive payment of as much as $1.48 million, which would be made up from the real estate and business equipment taxes T-Rex would owe when the building is up and equipment is installed in the first 20,000 square feet.
In addition, the EDA would assign to the company a $378,000 credit it is owed when Dominion sells the 23 acres for the facility.
Because T-Rex’s investment has to happen first, it means the county doesn’t have to worry about getting the incentive payment back if the project falls short, County Administrator Neil Morgan said.
Board of supervisors’ briefing papers say the county commitment would be repaid in full in 18 months, just from real estate taxes and business equipment installed in the first 20,000 square feet of space.
“The upside is a lot more,” Morgan said.
Jim Noel, York’s economic development director, said the 20,000 square feet “is just what they need to pull the trigger … this could be three or four times bigger … digital demand,it’s just going to go on and on.”
In the long run, county tax collections from the data center could replace the income York is losing and will lose from the shuttering of Dominion Energy’s Yorktown Power Station, Morgan said.
Budget records show that tax revenue will drop from a peak of $3.6 million in fiscal year 2018 to $2.1 million next year. Dominion has shut down the station’s two coal units since 2018. It plans to close the remaining oil-burning unit.
County officials said direct access to high capacity fiber optic cable is one key selling point for the site.
“We’ve got access to all the [internet] service providers, and two transmission lines flanking the site — power is a big deal for these firms,” Noel said.
And a site plan for a 160,000 square-foot-plus building had already been approved, cutting down on much of the development paperwork.
T-Rex could not be reached immediately for comment.
Dave Ress, dress@dailypress.com