香瓜
2007-01-21, 07:33 PM
Microsoft picks San Antonio for $550 million data center (http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/stories/MYSA011807.microsoft.EN.5207709d.html)
Web Posted: 01/18/2007 02:53 PM CST
L.A. Lorek Express-News Business Writer
Microsoft Corp. announced today it has selected San Antonio as the site for a new $550 million data center to house the next generation of global Internet traffic.
“We are extremely pleased to be here,'' Mike Manos, senior director of Microsoft Data Center Services, said in a news conference following the morning City Council meeting. Microsoft will build a 470,000-square-foot facility, nearly as big as the 550,000-square-foot Alamodome, on a 44-acre site in Westover Hills. It will bring 75 high-tech jobs.
The San Antonio City Council voted this morning to approve a 10-year tax abatement worth more than $20 million and providing $5.2 million from the CPS Energy economic development fund to provide electrical infrastructure for the project. A few of the council members expressed concerned about giving an abatement to one of the most successful companies in the world founded by Bill Gates, the richest man in the world.
But Mayor Phil Hardberger defended the use of incentives to bring a world-class company to the area, which would act as a catalyst to attract more information technology jobs and data centers.
“This is not a gift to Microsoft,'' Hardberger said. “This is a gift to ourselves.'' The 44 acres in Charles Martin Wender's Westover Hills development is currently pastureland and doesn't provide a lot of taxes for the city, Hardberger said. Microsoft's investment of $550 million will provide immediate tax revenue for the North Side School District of about $8 million annually and another $1.3 million to the Bexar County Hospital District.
The project also will generate construction jobs and support service jobs. The data center will also provide $1.4 million annually in CPS Energy revenues -- more than 25 percent of which goes into the city budget.
The Microsoft investment and jobs are “conservative’’ estimates, and the investment could be much larger as Microsoft’s Internet services business expands, Manos said.
That was welcome news to Councilwoman Delicia Herrera, whose District 6 encompasses Westover Hills and is the fastest-growing district in the city.
Wender said Microsoft would act as a magnet to attract even more data center projects to the area, creating a healthy cluster of information technology jobs. But he said the project wouldn’t have happened if CPS Energy hadn’t provided affordable power.
“CPS Energy was the key factor that put us ahead of everyone else,’’ Wender said. “We would not even be in the game if not for CPS Energy.’’
Microsoft will become CPS Energy’s biggest customer when it goes live in a few years, said Milton Lee, CPS Energy’s chief executive officer. That’s good news for the city, he said. CPS Energy contributes about $250 million a year to the city budget.
CPS Energy has plenty of capacity to handle such a large customer and could handle a few more data center projects, Lee said. In fact, a few big projects are currently looking at San Antonio, according to local economic development experts.
llorek@express-news.net
Web Posted: 01/18/2007 02:53 PM CST
L.A. Lorek Express-News Business Writer
Microsoft Corp. announced today it has selected San Antonio as the site for a new $550 million data center to house the next generation of global Internet traffic.
“We are extremely pleased to be here,'' Mike Manos, senior director of Microsoft Data Center Services, said in a news conference following the morning City Council meeting. Microsoft will build a 470,000-square-foot facility, nearly as big as the 550,000-square-foot Alamodome, on a 44-acre site in Westover Hills. It will bring 75 high-tech jobs.
The San Antonio City Council voted this morning to approve a 10-year tax abatement worth more than $20 million and providing $5.2 million from the CPS Energy economic development fund to provide electrical infrastructure for the project. A few of the council members expressed concerned about giving an abatement to one of the most successful companies in the world founded by Bill Gates, the richest man in the world.
But Mayor Phil Hardberger defended the use of incentives to bring a world-class company to the area, which would act as a catalyst to attract more information technology jobs and data centers.
“This is not a gift to Microsoft,'' Hardberger said. “This is a gift to ourselves.'' The 44 acres in Charles Martin Wender's Westover Hills development is currently pastureland and doesn't provide a lot of taxes for the city, Hardberger said. Microsoft's investment of $550 million will provide immediate tax revenue for the North Side School District of about $8 million annually and another $1.3 million to the Bexar County Hospital District.
The project also will generate construction jobs and support service jobs. The data center will also provide $1.4 million annually in CPS Energy revenues -- more than 25 percent of which goes into the city budget.
The Microsoft investment and jobs are “conservative’’ estimates, and the investment could be much larger as Microsoft’s Internet services business expands, Manos said.
That was welcome news to Councilwoman Delicia Herrera, whose District 6 encompasses Westover Hills and is the fastest-growing district in the city.
Wender said Microsoft would act as a magnet to attract even more data center projects to the area, creating a healthy cluster of information technology jobs. But he said the project wouldn’t have happened if CPS Energy hadn’t provided affordable power.
“CPS Energy was the key factor that put us ahead of everyone else,’’ Wender said. “We would not even be in the game if not for CPS Energy.’’
Microsoft will become CPS Energy’s biggest customer when it goes live in a few years, said Milton Lee, CPS Energy’s chief executive officer. That’s good news for the city, he said. CPS Energy contributes about $250 million a year to the city budget.
CPS Energy has plenty of capacity to handle such a large customer and could handle a few more data center projects, Lee said. In fact, a few big projects are currently looking at San Antonio, according to local economic development experts.
llorek@express-news.net