Facebook officially opens Henrico data center

Social media giant Facebook today officially will open – and bring online – the first phase of its $1.75-billion data center in Eastern Henrico County.

Total buildout of the massive 2.5-million square-foot facility, which sits on 328 acres in the White Oak Technology Park in Sandston, is not expected for several more years. But today's opening of a 450,000-square-foot building marks a significant milestone for the company and the county.

The site is adjacent to arguably the most desirable data cable connection in North America – the MAREA subsea cable, which lands at the QTS data center in White Oak and which Facebook helped fund, along with Microsoft and Spanish telecom company Telxius. Facebook expects to employ more than 200 people at the site eventually, most in high-paying jobs. About 50 work there now.

Today’s opening concludes a six-year process – and the culmination of a number of factors – that resulted in Facebook’s arrival in Henrico.

Virginia economic development officials began wooing the firm in 2014 when Facebook was seeking a location for its eighth U.S. data center. Henrico officials became involved in late 2016, and in March 2017, the county’s Board of Supervisors slashed its data center tax from $3.50 to 40 cents per $100 of assessed value – making it the lowest such tax rate in the state at the time.

That got Facebook’s attention, but the company still wanted to check a number of other boxes before committing. Typically, companies that purchase sites to develop work out the details of water, sewer, permitting and plans of development afterwards – but Facebook wanted all necessary agreements in place first.

Also of importance to the company: being able to tap into a source of renewable energy. Thanks to a partnership with Dominion, the data center will be supported by 100% solar energy from Virginia-based projects, company officials said, and will use 80% less water than typical data centers. Instantly, it will become one of the largest contributors in Virginia to renewable energy.

Once everything was in place, Facebook selected the White Oak site and Delaware-based Scout Development LLC (which developed the site for the company) purchased it from Henrico for $10.825 million in late September 2017. Facebook officials formally announced their plans Oct. 5 during a press conference with Henrico officials and then-Gov. Terry McAuliffe at the county’s western government center.

But at that time, Facebook’s immediate plans were to build a 970,000-square-foot facility by 2019, with the potential of future expansion in years to come. Those plans changed quickly.

Less than a year later, the company announced the it would “expand” before the first building was even complete and construct another 1.5 million square feet of data center space there.

At the peak of its construction the combined data center project was a small city unto itself, with some 1,500 construction workers on site.

The data center is Facebook’s eighth in the United States (four more are under construction) and 11th in the world. In total worldwide, the company has 16 data centers in operation or under construction.

The White Oak park is expected to continue attracting data center users. It's now considered one of the prime locations for such facilities in the world, given the direct connection to the MAREA cable at the QTS data center. Facebook, Microsoft and Telxius joined to build the cable – which sits at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean and connects between Spain and Virginia Beach. It's the fastest of nearly 450 subsea cables in the world and is able to transmit every movie ever made from one side of the ocean to the other in just 42 seconds.

But there is no direct connection to the cable for businesses in Virginia Beach. That connection exists only at the QTS site, which is the only U.S. network access point (or NAP) that connects a variety of land-based data networks with the MAREA cable and another data cable to Brazil – making it one of just 11 international internet connection points in the U.S.

Facebook's ability to tap into the line from right next door is another benefit to its White Oak location.

As part of the build-up to its opening, Facebook has contributed in a number of ways to the Henrico community. The company has donated a total of $830,000 to Henrico County schools, small businesses and nonprofit organizations, including funding the purchase of $160,000 worth of grab-and-go meals that the school system has been supplying to students since school closed in mid-March; and funding the purchase of 625 WiFi hot spots and associated connectivity for one full year – to the tune of $120,000 – to assist students who don’t have internet in their homes.

Next month, the company will launch its Community Action Grants program in Henrico to provide grants to help needs in the community connecting people online and off. More information and the online application will be available at Facebook.com/HenricoDataCenter.

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Disclosure: The Henrico Citizen was one of three Virginia news organizations to receive a Facebook Journalism Program COVID-19 Local News Relief Fund Grant Program grant in May.