Google Breaks Ground on $600M Las Vegas Data Center

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Google recently held a ceremonial groundbreaking for its latest data center, a 750,000-square-foot development to sprout up in Henderson, Nev., roughly 10 miles south of downtown Las Vegas. The search engine giant will invest $600 million to realize the project.

According to Google’s application for the Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development’s data center tax abatement program, which the company filed through a subsidiary, Design LLC, the project will occupy two parcels totaling 64 acres. Google purchased the land in January 2018 via another subsidiary, Jasmine Development LLC, in a $19 million transaction with seller Treco LLC, per Clark County Records.

In addition to a suitable site, a qualified workforce and utilities consideration, the option for tax abatements played a vital role in Google’s decision to locate the data center in Nevada. In November 2018, GOED approved state incentives totaling more than $25 million for the project. If all goes as planned, the data center will commence operations by the close of 2020. Design LLC will own the development’s personal property, while Jasmine Development LLC will own the real property.

Growth, Google style

As Jacquelline Fuller, vice president with Google.org, noted in a company announcement on the July 1 groundbreaking ceremony, Google is expanding at a rapid pace outside its home base in the San Francisco Bay Area. The company revealed in February that it plans to invest a total of $13 billion in data centers and offices in 14 states across the U.S. in 2019, including construction projects in Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia. Including the Nevada project, the flurry of activity this year will leave Google with a home in 24 states.

Google’s expansion plans just keep expanding. In March 2019, the company revealed at an event hosted by the Real Estate Board of New York that it will double its footprint in Manhattan alone over the next 10 years.