JeffMet Park expansion to add thousands of jobs, officials predict
The Jefferson County Commission voted last week to rezone land in the existing Jefferson Metropolitan Park in McCalla that could bring thousands of additional jobs to the Birmingham metro area and have a substantial impact on economic development in the region. The commission unanimously approved rezoning of about 410 acres to industrial from agriculture on property purchased by the Jefferson County Economic and Industrial Development Authority (JCEIDA). The rezoning includes another 230 acres that will be acquired by the JCEIDA by the end of the month. The authority began buying the land in July. “Based on projects in the queue, I would project another 5,000 citizens will be employed at the park in the future,” said Commissioner David Carrington, chair of the county’s Finance, Information Technology and Business Development committee. “Whenever I look at a parcel of developable property, I don’t see land; I see jobs.” Ted vonCannon, executive director of JCEIDA, echoed what the park has meant to the workforce in Jefferson County. “Those are jobs that are not going to Georgia or some of our sister communities,” he said. “At one end (of the park) we have Publix and at the other end we have Home Depot. We have Gestamp, which is the largest employer in the park (that) will have probably have over 900 jobs when they finish up – and that’s just one company.” The commission voted to rezone three parcels of property in the park which is home to 13 companies: seven domestic and six international. Those companies range from Publix and Home Depot to Plastipak, which makes bottles for water and Gestamp, which makes parts for automobile manufacturers. “Expansion is key to attracting more companies with good paying jobs for our citizens,” said Commissioner Joe Knight. “Jefferson County has limited suitable land for companies needing large tract areas for expansion and construction … rezoning of the land allows us to proceed with the expansion of our park as it is important to invest now for future growth.” Currently, more than 3,000 people work at the JeffMet Park “and the annual payroll is more than $100 million,” said Carrington. The location of the existing park, which opened in 2000 with about 720 acres that could be developed, is a vital part of growth in the county, he said. “Next to available land, transportation network availability is very important to many manufacturing projects,” he said. “The park is adjacent to the Norfolk Southern’s Intermodal Facility with three miles of rail access available and it’s within a half mile of I-20/59. “Based on the successes of the last few years and the active prospects in the queue, it became obvious that the county needed to acquire more land in order to recruit more jobs,” he continued. “Only 140 acres remain for development: three industrial sites totaling 110 acres and one 30-acre commercial site.” Carrington reiterated the economic development impact for the county and the entire state. “While we celebrate new projects in all areas of the state, economic development in our region clearly has the largest impact on the health of the state’s overall economy,” he said. “The Birmingham metro area, anchored by Jefferson County, is Alabama’s primary economic engine, representing more GDP (Gross Domestic Product) than Mobile, Montgomery and Huntsville combined.” Knight added that the park is state of the art, well maintained and “offers $9.7 million in property taxes alone, which helps to fund our government without raising taxes.” “All in all, we are excited about the future of this park and excited about the future of Jefferson County,” he said. Republished with permission from the Alabama NewsCenter.
DC BLOX building ‘flagship’ data center in Birmingham
Atlanta-based DC BLOX said today it is building a data center on the former Trinity Steel site in downtown Birmingham, creating 20 jobs initially with the potential to grow up to $785 million in capital investment and add jobs over the next decade. “The significant investment being made by DC BLOX to open this data center in Birmingham will not only create high-paying jobs, but also bring an exciting new chapter to a neighborhood in the city with a long industrial history,” Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said. “We’re committed to positioning Alabama for a technology-focused future and look forward to working with the company to accelerate that process.” The 31,000-square-foot first phase of the multi-tenant Birmingham data center joins others DC BLOX has built or announced in Huntsville, Atlanta and Chattanooga. DC BLOX plans to break ground in August and have a facility configurable up to 5 megawatts (MW) of customer capacity by early 2019. As customers are added, the facility can grow up to 200,000 square feet and 80 MW. Plans are for the facility to have 13,000 square feet of office space with conference rooms, staging areas and work stations. “The Birmingham data center campus will unquestionably be our flagship property, capable of scaling to over 200,000 square feet of secure, government-grade data center space,” said DC BLOX CEO Jeff Uphues. “We believe this site will be a highly compelling alternative in the Southeast to Atlanta for enterprise, hyperscale cloud, software-as-a-service, government, network and content providers. It’s our focus to create a multi-purpose innovation campus with collaborative workspaces worthy of housing global technology companies and academia dedicated to research and collaboration.” DC BLOX has been scouting sites in Birmingham for nearly a year. “DC BLOX wanted to be in Birmingham because of its strong local economy, geographic location, fiber optic network connectivity and the University of Alabama at Birmingham,” said Mark Masi, COO of DC BLOX. “We are thankful to the city of Birmingham, Jefferson County and the state of Alabama for collaborating with DC BLOX on this project.” During the construction and operational phase, the project is expected to have an economic impact of $94 million on the Birmingham metropolitan area, more than $80 million of which will be in Jefferson County, according to an analysis prepared by the Center for Business and Economic Research at the Culverhouse College of Business at the University of Alabama. The Birmingham Business Alliance commissioned the analysis. Economic impact on the state is estimated to be $99 million. “Because data centers represent the backbone of the technology infrastructure, we see strategic benefits for Alabama to host state-of-the-art centers that keep the world connected,” said Alabama Commerce Secretary Greg Canfield. “DC BLOX is joining an impressive roster of technology companies selecting Alabama for their data centers, and we want to see that list grow.” Jefferson County Commissioner David Carrington predicted DC BLOX’s data center will attract future business. “DC BLOX will be a tremendous asset to the existing companies throughout Jefferson County and a tool to attract new companies here,” Carrington said. “This takes Birmingham’s thriving innovation ecosystem beyond its usual physical boundaries of the city center and extends it into an area that will only strengthen our core.” The new DC BLOX data center brings new life to the former Trinity Steel property, which county and city officials have long sought to bring back to productive use. “The city of Birmingham was proud to work with DC BLOX to bring this significant data center project to Birmingham,” said Mayor Randall Woodfin. “In addition to utilizing a long-vacant property in our city and transforming the surrounding neighborhood, this will serve as the company’s flagship data center and a tool to attract further business to the area.” The team luring DC BLOX to the site included the Alabama Department of Commerce, Jefferson County Commission, Jefferson County Economic and Industrial Development Authority, the city of Birmingham and its Department of Innovation and Economic Opportunity, Titusville Neighborhood Association, Birmingham Industrial Development Board, Alabama Power, Spire, Economic Development Partnership of Alabama and the Birmingham Business Alliance. “The $785 million investment over the next 10 years to build this data center technology campus represents the single largest project investment in Jefferson County in many years,” said Lee Smith, East Region CEO for BBVA Compass and 2018 chairman of the Birmingham Business Alliance. “DC BLOX recognizes the importance of Birmingham’s innovation and technology economy, and they share our vision that having a location near downtown will optimize the company’s growth opportunities. As with any successful economic development project, a great team worked together with the company to ensure its needs are met and that the project is mutually beneficial to the company, community and state.” Republished with the permission of the Alabama Newscenter.
