New data centers are booming in Ohio — most of them for big cloud storage companies — and Springfield is no exception to this expansion.
Construction is well underway on a new data center in the city.
After LexisNexis left Springfield, there were no commercial data centers within city limits. Now data center provider 5c is taking over the former LexisNexis data center at Prime Ohio corporate park. The property will be leased out to cloud infrastructure company Vultr, it announced last week.
The companies expect to invest up to $1.3 billion and create 120 new jobs, according to city and state documents. The building will also be scaled up from 67,000 square feet to 214,000 square feet.
Vultr estimates the building will be operational by early 2026.
Betting on AI
Springfield is embracing the future of AI infrastructure, Kevin Cochrane, chief marketing officer for Vultr, said.
“All of this is possible because there were many organizations at the local and at the state level that work very closely with us to bring this project to life,” Cochrane said.
Last year, the city commission approved a 15-year enterprise zone tax abatement for the facility. These forms of abatements let municipal or county governments give tax exemptions to businesses on land that will undergo job-creating private investment, according to the Ohio Department of Development.
This will amount to nearly $95 million in tax savings for landowner 5c.
The facility will house an AI supercomputer (or supercluster) that can be used to train artificial intelligence models. The project wasn’t built for a specific customer, rather it’s a speculative build that’s ready for move-in.
“For us, it's always been International Harvester or Navistar here in Springfield that [have] been wonderful employers, obviously, but when they've struggled and moved plants offshore and have downsized their plants here, that's hurt our economy as well as suppliers.”
“We are one of the leaders moving the ball forward to build out the next generation of data center infrastructure. And it just so happens that the place that we choose to make our biggest bet today is Springfield,” Cochrane said.
5c didn’t respond to WYSO’s multiple requests for comment.
The city’s been intentional in choosing the industries it invites, Tom Franzen, Springfield's director of economic development, said.
“When we look at data centers, or technology industry in general, that's been an area we've been trying to attract here to help diversify our economic base. So the data center certainly falls in that category,” he said.
Historically, Springfield has relied on automotives and manufacturing, Franzen said.
“We've done very well with that in the past, but we've been prone to struggle in the down cycles of those industries,” he said.
“For us, it's always been International Harvester or Navistar here in Springfield that [have] been wonderful employers, obviously, but when they've struggled and moved plants offshore and have downsized their plants here, that's hurt our economy as well as suppliers.”
Between the two companies, they will create over $14 million in payroll.
“With each project that comes into our community, we evaluate it based on the investment, the job potential, as well as any externalities that might exist with these projects, whether it be any kind of manufacturing,” he said.
The city estimates the 5c/Vultr data center will use 300,000 gallons of water daily.
Ohio competed against Illinois, North Carolina, and Virginia to be the proposed project’s home. In October, the state of Ohio approved a 10-year, 50% tax credit for Vultr’s parent company, the Constant Company as a financial incentive. The tax credit is estimated to be worth over $32 million, according to the Ohio Department of Development.
The Greater Springfield Partnership, the Springfield area’s chamber of commerce, hasn’t returned WYSO’s requests for comment.
Local concerns for environmental impacts
Some U.S. communities report issues with water access and electricity prices near data centers.
At a Springfield city commission meeting last month, resident Melissa Rexroth asked “What is the city doing to protect the citizens from increasing electric and water prices as well as power outages and limiting water?”
Springfield’s service director Chris Moore said it will be between the 3rd or 4th largest water user in Springfield’s water system.
The city estimates the 5c/Vultr data center will use 300,000 gallons of water daily.
Franzen said it is in their capacity to provide the water it’ll need; Springfield currently pumps 8.5 million gallons a day, but is able to pump as much as 18 million gallons daily, he said.
Ohio rule-makers have looked favorably upon data center-specific energy tariffs to shield residential customers from price hikes. But it is ultimately up to each local energy utility to create such tariffs.
Ohio Edison services the city of Springfield. UtilityDive reports its parent company First Energy doesn’t plan to develop any tariffs on data centers, preferring to enter into negotiated terms and conditions with individual developers.
