Wood County has had a lot of new development leads since the start of the year.
Wade Gottschalk, executive director of Wood County Economic Development, provided county commissioners with an update at their Thursday meeting.
He said Project Accordion, which is the data center in Middleton Township, is working through road issues with the Ohio Department of Transportation and the Toledo–Lucas County Port Authority for improvements to Ohio 582 and Ohio 25.
There is a possibility for a roundabout on Route 582 in front of the Northwest Water and Sewer District, Gottschalk said.
Road construction activity for the $750 million project will be robust, but once the data center is in operation, traffic will drop, he said, and added the project will provide road improvements that the company won’t utilize.
Gottschalk said his office has had multiple inquiries by other data centers.
“These guys are scouring the country for potential sites,” he said.
Wood County is an ideal location for data centers as it is flat, provides lots of power, has minimal natural disasters and offers a natural gas line.
Data centers are starting to consider putting in their own gas power plant. It’s not something Wood County is currently offering but it is being looked at on a national basis, Gottschalk said.
“We obviously have some of the best sites in the entire region,” he said about tours for the Regional Growth Partnership. “So, we expect them to get their fair share of looks.”
Retention visits have shown new investments and no layoffs, he said.
He said he has not heard of difficulties with finding workers considering the county’s low unemployment rate.
Gottschalk said there are no other named projects his office is working on other than Accordion and Yellow Jacket, which is Amazon.
“We don’t name them until they’re a little farther into the process, more than an initial look would be,” he said.
He guessed his office has submitted for 15 projects this year, from distribution centers to light industry.
