Your Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp posts will soon be housed in Mesa.
Facebook confirmed today its plans of constructing a 960,000 square foot Facebook Mesa Data Center worth $800 million which will become the company’s first facility in Arizona. This project is expected to support an estimated 100 long-term operational jobs and up to 1,500 temporary construction jobs at peak.
Known previously as “Project Huckleberry” and rumored to be Facebook, the company confirmed this morning that Facebook’s Mesa Data Center will be built on the SE Corner of Ellsworth and Elliot. Apple already has a massive facility at Elliot and Signal Butte, and Google is set to build their new data center on Elliot west of Sossaman. Numerous other cloud storage firms are either here or planning to build in the Elliot Tech Corridor as well.
District 6 Councilmember Kevin Thompson was happy to announce the jobs. “Those (jobs) are locally sourced,” he said in a statement. “It’s great news for our community and region.”
Facebook is also prioritizing sustainable energy and water conservation. The company will ensure to support 450 megawatts of renewable energy projects at three sites within Arizona. The Mesa Data Center will also use at least 60% less water and have included plans of restoring over 200 million gallons of water per year in the Colorado and Salt River basins which will replace more water than the data center will consume.
Rachel Peterson, VP of Infrastructure at Facebook said, “We are thrilled to be breaking ground on our newest data center. Mesa stood out as a great location for a number of reasons. It has great access to infrastructure, opportunities for renewable energy development, strong talent for both construction and operations, and great community partners.”
She also mentioned, “Thank you to the Arizona Commerce Authority, the City of Mesa, the Eastmark Community, Salt River Project, Bonneville Environmental Foundation, the State of Arizona, and to all of our partners who have helped get us to today. We are excited to join the Mesa community and look forward to having a strong partnership for years to come.”
Facebook went through extensive research and a multi-year site selection process before settling on Mesa. The city’s world class talent, accessible infrastructure, and vibrant community drew the leading technology company to the city.
Sandra Watson, President and CEO of the Arizona Commerce Authority said, “We’re excited to welcome Facebook’s state-of-the-art data operations.” She also added, “Arizona has become one of the leading destinations for data centers anywhere in the world, and with the addition of Facebook, we demonstrate once again our premier attractiveness for technology. We look forward to partnering with Facebook to prioritize sustainability and conservation as we add to Arizona’s already thriving technology ecosystem.”
Facebook’s data centers reduce waste and use environmentally friendly products, allowing the company to achieve LEED Gold certification for all of its data center projects.
The Facebook Mesa Data Center will be one of the world’s most advanced, energy- and water-efficient data center facilities, and will be part of Facebook’s global infrastructure that connects people all over the world to its apps and services.
