The town of Lockport, New York has agreed to a new incentive package for Verizon Media in exchange for the expansion of one of Verizon’s two data centers in the area. Verizon had previously acquired the two data centers in 2017 when it bought the former internet heavyweight Yahoo.
Thomas J. Prohaska reported on Verizon’s new deal for The Buffalo News:
The company intends to start construction “within days” on the $28 million, 75,000-square-foot expansion of its center on Crown Drive in the town industrial park, said Paul Bonaro, Verizon Media vice president of data center operations. He said work should be complete by the end of the year.
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The 15-year incentive package calls for Verizon to begin making payments in lieu of taxes to the town next year instead of waiting until 2024, a delay which was included in the original incentive plan for the second data center, adopted in 2013. That deal was superseded by Thursday’s agreement.
Verizon’s IDA application says that once all the computer equipment is installed in the expanded facility, the company’s total investment in the addition will be about $241 million. All told, Verizon Media and its corporate predecessors have invested more than $500 million in the Lockport campus in the past decade.
“Long term, it’s critical to the growth of the Town of Lockport,” Supervisor Mark C. Crocker said. “It creates jobs our kids can fill, high-tech, good-paying jobs.” The project will add 10 jobs to the workforce at the Crown Drive location, bringing the total to 125. Verizon also employs 75 people at the original Enterprise Drive data center.
Terms of the package call for Verizon Media to continue receiving an exemption from paying sales taxes on building materials or equipment. That will save the company an estimated $17.3 million, according to the IDA application. The total property tax savings for Verizon Media over the 15 years is almost $11.6 million.
