The data company Cologix has started work on a $1 billion AI data center complex in the Lewis Center area, part of a larger central Ohio expansion for the Denver company.
Called COL5, the complex is eventually expected to provide 120 megawatts of capacity and will be engineered to support AI demands, according to the company. The first phase, 135,000 square feet, is expected to be completed by the fall of 2026. A second building, at least that large, would follow.
Land preparation is well under way on the site, 28 acres on the southeast corner of Green Meadows Drive and Home Road in Orange Township.
COL5 will be the fifth Columbus-area data center complex for Cologix, which entered the market in 2014. Columbus has become the largest U.S. location for the company for several reasons, said Nancy Tiemeier, Cologix’s account director for central Ohio.
“One is the market itself; there’s a lot of growth going on,” she said. “As far as environment, we don’t get the storms or hurricanes or earthquakes like other parts of the country. It’s also a gateway for network connection between the Midwest and the East Coast; 60% of the population is within a 9-hour drive, so it’s convenient for customers.”
In addition to the Delaware County project, Cologix expects to start work later this year on a larger site, 154 acres in Johnstown, that could include up to eight data centers, said Tiemeier.
Unlike some data center operators such as Amazon Web Services, which is the largest in central Ohio, Cologix builds its centers exclusively for other clients, a practice called “colocation” in the industry.
Cologix’s four existing Columbus-area centers combine for 500,000 square feet and 80 megawatts, making it the largest colocation provider in central Ohio, Tiemeier said.
Cologix has not signed clients yet for the Delaware County data center, but Tiemeier isn’t concerned.
“For us, the market isn’t slowing down at all,” she said. “When we built COL4 (in the Crosswoods area), it was full before we opened the doors and I suspect COL5 will be the same. I have customers I talk with every day who are looking for space.”
The new Cologix center, like COL4 before it, will be able to handle AI workloads, which is far more demanding.
“With AI applications, you’re dealing with a lot of data. To process the data, the equipment needs to be able to have a lot of power and a lot of cooling capacity,” Tiemeier said. “In a cabinet for a typical customer, they may do 3 to 5 kilowatts per cabinet. But with larger AI applications, you may need 100 kilowatts per cabinet.”
Data center expansion has raised concerns about the industry’s tremendous consumption of power. Data centers are expected to use so much electricity that demand in the Columbus area will be similar to that of Manhattan by 2030, according to American Electric Power, raising concerns that the region could face a shortfall of energy as soon as 2027, according to a study released from the Ohio Business Roundtable.
Cologix’s Delaware operation will be powered from the conventional electric grid, but Tiemeier said Cologix has struck a deal with American Electric Power and Bloom Energy to generate at least some power for the Johnstown operations.
The Lewis Center announcement reflects the broader growth of the industry in central Ohio, which now includes more than 100 data centers operated by a multitude of companies including Amazon, Google, Facebook parent Meta and Microsoft. Google confirmed over the weekend that it paid $63 million for 85 acres in the New Albany International Business Park for a potential data center.
The new Cologix site is part of a Community Reinvestment Act area, which provides property tax breaks. In addition, the county granted a sales tax exemption for construction materials on the project, said Dana McDaniel, with the Delaware County Economic Development Department.
Real estate and Development Reporter Jim Weiker can be reached at jweiker@dispatch.com and at 614-284-3697. Follow him @JimWeiker
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Data center operator starts work on $1 billion Delaware complex, part of larger expansion
Reporting by Jim Weiker, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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