“I think specifically for this area, we were able to identify a shovel-ready site, great access to infrastructure, the ability to get 100% renewable energy, strong pool of labor to help construct and operate the data center, and amazing partners.”
— Brad Davis, Director of Data Center Community and Economic Development – Meta
Boosting Opportunity in Northwest Ohio
Long-term construction employment
Construction jobs created by data centers are unique. It typically takes a decade to fully build out a site versus the average two-year construction of a conventional manufacturing site. Data centers typically commit to pay an average of $85,000. Those are good-paying jobs that create significant income tax revenue.
Meta anticipates more than 1,000 construction workers will be onsite at the peak of construction of its Bowling Green data center.
Direct Tech Jobs
Data centers typically employ between 100-150 people. These are high-paying jobs in such occupations as data, systems, facilities and E/M engineering, IT specialists, network technicians, data center operations, security systems.
U.S. BLS predicts data-related occupations will grow 12% by 2028, creating more than 546,000 new jobs.
Maintenance Contractor Opportunities
Data centers will require maintenance contractors offering specialized services for critical infrastructure including electrical and mechanical systems, facility management and hardware support.
Maintenance contractors provide preventative maintenance, repairs and 24/7 emergency response.
Property Tax Revenue Generation
Data centers are typically valued 4x greater than other industrial/manufacturing facilities because of the specialized networking equipment and systems inside these buildings. PILOT payment agreements cane be arranged which provide consistent revenue to municipalities and schools, often greater than traditional property tax payments.
Data Centers in Ohio contributed more than $1 billion in state and local tax revenue in 2024.
Power Plant Construction
To support date center demand, developers are exploring new power solutions off the grid, on-site power generation, such as natural gas fired plants. These massive investments create new sources of revenue and good-paying jobs for communities.
A 2024 survey showed 30% of all data center sites expected to use onsite power as the primary energy source supplemental to the grid by 2030, 2.3 times more than forecasted earlier that year.
New Industry Growth Sector
AI is a phenomenal transformative technology that is integrated into, and reshaping, nearly every existing industry. Northwest Ohio’s ability to provide the power that is necessary to support this offers a generational opportunity this region has never seen before.
AI is projected to add trillions of dollars to the global GDP, with some estimates suggesting a boost up to $15.7 trillion, by 2030.
Infrastructure Extensions
Data centers often pay to extend infrastructure to their sites, including water and sewer lines. That allows communities that had been on wells and septic systems to enjoy the benefits of the municipal system, at very minimal cost.
Infrastructure extension provides additional economic development opportunities as a means to attract new business, jobs and investment.
Brand Association
Attracting and supporting global icons such as Google, Meta and Microsoft helps brand a community as high-tech, growth-oriented. It shows the business world your community has the assets to serve and support these game-changing sectors.
Companies often prefer to locate their operations near data centers to reduce latency and enhance data access speeds. This clustering effect can create a thriving tech ecosystem, leading to further economic diversification and job opportunities. (Golden Shovel Agency survey)
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Key Contact
Gary Thompson
Executive V.P.
Business Development
(419) 304-9585