Google data center’s next phase goes to Mesa for review
As Google continues to build out the first phase of its $1 billion data center campus in Mesa, the city’s design review board will hear a proposal for its second phase on April 9.
The second phase, which is referred to by the codename “Redhawk,” consists of a 280,000-square-foot building used as a data center as well as a mechanical yard, an electrical yard and a medium-voltage substation. Those plans are similar to Google’s first phase, which started construction last summer on a site of more than 185 acres near the northwest corner of Sossaman and Elliot roads.
The data center, which will be air-cooled, will power the company’s consumer-facing tools including Search, Gmail, Maps, Google Cloud and ongoing artificial intelligence innovation, Google previously told the Business Journal.
In a separate case, the design review board will consider “Redhawk-HUB,” which is a proposal to develop a single-story office building to the south of the second phase of the data center.
Delaware-based Stone Applications LLC is listed as the owner of the land for Google’s campus, according to the Maricopa County Assessor’s Office.
HDR Engineering Inc. is listed as applicant on the data center proposal, while DLR Group is the applicant for the office building.
Google signed a 25-year government property lease excise tax, or GPLET, with the city of Mesa in July 2019 to assist in purchasing the more than 185 acres for the data center campus. The GPLET agreement put Google on the clock to complete the construction of the first phase of the data center by July 2025. Per a development agreement with Mesa, Google must also spend $600 million in capital expenditures by then.
Future performance metrics at the Google campus include:
- By 2027, Google must spend $800 million, with $240 million in taxable construction and have constructed 500,000 square feet of development. By 2029, those figures jump to a minimum spend of $1 billion, $300 million in taxable construction costs and 750,000 square feet of development built out.
- The entire project is expected to be finished in 2030. Google is also required to have an average annual salary for full-time data center employees of at least $65,000.
The city of Mesa and Google worked with the Salt River Project, Arizona Commerce Authority and Greater Phoenix Economic Council for nearly a year before Mesa City Council unanimously approved the deal in July 2019, according to previous reporting.