SPARTANBURG, S.C. — Three data center projects worth a combined $5.5 billion or so moved a step closer to final approval in Spartanburg County on Tuesday. County Council gave second reading to development agreements for all three during a special meeting that followed hours of public comment, according to HERE Spartanburg and WSPA.
The biggest of the three is a planned 457-megawatt campus at 4000 South Pine Street, tied to Valara Holdings LLC. HERE Spartanburg reported the project at about $2.8 billion, with 27 full-time jobs, under a 10-year agreement. The second is AIB’s site on Tyger River Industrial Drive near Moore, where a former cryptocurrency mining operation would become a permanent data center building. The company plans to invest about $1.2 billion there. Its agreement sets a floor of $400 million and 28 full-time jobs and includes $12.6 million in community benefit payments over 12 years, the Post and Courier reported. The third is a roughly $1.5 billion center on a former industrial property on Jones Road, backed by the Lightstone Group. According to the Post and Courier, that project would occupy a 200,000-square-foot building and buy power from the utility rather than generate its own. Its agreement requires at least $100 million in investment and 25 full-time jobs, plus $9 million in community benefit payments over six years.
The votes come under a county data center moratorium that exempts projects below 65 megawatts and does not affect permits already issued, the Post and Courier reported. Council held the South Pine Street agreement back in October, and council member Monier Abusaft said members “didn’t like the protections we saw” at the time. On Tuesday, council member Paul Abbott said he would vote against that project again, questioning whether the developer would keep its commitments, according to WSPA.
Residents spoke on both sides. Supporters pointed to new property tax revenue and technology jobs, and one speaker backed “reasonable data center development when it comes with clear guardrails and real community benefits,” WSPA reported. Opponents raised concerns about noise, air pollution and planned on-site power generation. They also noted that the public copies of the agreements were still missing site plans and property descriptions. HERE Spartanburg pointed out that the job counts are targets rather than binding requirements. County staff said the missing exhibits should come out with the tentative agenda for council’s November meeting. Another public hearing will be held before each final vote, and the South Pine Street hearing is set for Nov. 16 at 5:15 p.m.
For commercial real estate professionals, the three deals show how quickly Spartanburg County is becoming a data center market. Two of the projects reuse existing industrial or brownfield sites, and the investment totals dwarf most of the region’s recent manufacturing announcements. If all three win final approval, they would add significant taxable property and create steady demand for construction, power infrastructure and related services. At the same time, the moratorium and the closer scrutiny of agreements suggest that future data center sites across the Upstate will face more entitlement risk and more negotiation over community benefits.
Sources: HERE Spartanburg, WSPA, Post and Courier
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