A large data center project could be returning to west Augusta.
Vitrified Brick & Clay Co. has submitted a request to rezone some 165 acres of its land at 2883 Gordon Highway from Agriculture and B-2 General Business to only B-2.
There, Eagle South, LLC aims to construct a data center comprised of six two-story buildings, more than 230,000 square feet each.
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The proposed development represents an expansion of an earlier idea. Two years ago, the Augusta Commission approved rezoning more than 200 acres of the same site — then listed at 2111 Powell Road. Atlanta-based company T5 had plans to construct one 350,000 square foot building.
The parcel underwent a Developments of Regional Impact (DRI) study due to the size of the proposed development, before the city approved rezoning from Agricultural and Residential Mobile Home zoning to B-2, also for use as a data center.
The current request seeks to rezone a smaller portion of the tract currently still zoned Agricultural. Attorney Darren Meadows of the Hull Barrett Law Firm, on behalf of both Eagle South and Vitrified Brick & Clay, stated in a letter to Augusta Planning and Zoning that although the subject party abuts the Columbia County line, and even a portion of the development will cross over, “all of the substantive development” would be on the Richmond County side.
The letter also notes that the data center would provide about 620 construction jobs, and the campus itself, after full build out, would provide between 160 to 220 jobs. The project, Meadows said, would represent a $2 billion investment, though “tenants in computer equipment are expected to exceed those development costs.”
The Augusta Planning Commission is slated to consider the rezoning request in its meeting on Monday, June 3.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
