CANTON – Panattoni Development Co. will host a community meeting on Aug. 18 at the Canton Memorial Civic Center about “Project Shelby,” a proposed data center on the former Ford property south of Georgetown Road NE.
Representatives from the development team will have informational materials and be available to answer questions from 5 to 7 p.m. in the McKinley Room. The nearly 91-acre property is owned by A&J Urban Development, which is operated by local businessmen Steve Coon and Todd Pugh.
“Project Shelby is still in the early stages, and this open house is an opportunity for the community to have direct conversations with the people working on the project,” according to the announcement from Panattoni. “We want residents to be able to ask questions and learn more, but we also want to hear from local businesses, contractors and tradespeople who are interested in being part of the project.”
The project website — marketing.panattoni.com/project-shelby — says the site was chosen because it’s located in an industrial zoned area and has access to existing utility infrastructure and high-capacity fiber connectivity.
It doesn’t identify the company behind the project, other than saying it’s “being designed for a major American technology company that provides digital services such as cloud computing, computing and machine learning, enterprise applications, and secure data processing.”
The website also doesn’t state the cost of the project or how many workers would be permanently employed. It says the project would create 670 construction jobs. Construction is expected to begin after “final approvals” and take 30 months to complete the buildings, with interior equipment being installed in phases.
Canton Mayor William V. Sherer II said that the developers have submitted site plans to the Building Department, but officials have not had negotiations or detailed discussions about the project or its financial aspects.
“If this is going to happen with the city of Canton, we want to make sure it’s the right fit and it’s going to benefit our community moving forward,” Sherer said.
The Canton Repository has reached out to Panattoni and the property owners for additional information.
Stark County home to other data centers
This is the fourth hyperscale data center under construction or announced in Stark County:
The California-based development company typically gives projects a code name. The Ford Motor Co., which closed the Canton plant in the late 1980s, produces high-performance vehicles named for race car driver and automotive designer Carroll Shelby.
The property, southeast of Marietta Avenue NE and Georgetown Road NE, was donated to the city in 2004. There have been numerous attempts to market and develop the property since.
Reach Kelly at 330-580-8323 or kelly.byer@cantonrep.com.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Developers to host open house for proposed data center on former Ford property in Canton
Reporting by Kelly Byer, Canton Repository / The Repository
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Kelly Byer, Canton Repository | USA TODAY Network
