The Big Idea: Build a 10-megawatt data center on the property comprising 20-acres and 500,000 square feet. Add cyber security companies and a training center for cyber security.
Cost: $422 million
Time: Project announced 5/5/2016 and expected to take ten years to complete starting in 2016
Details: Cape Augusta’s plans call for a 10-megawatt data center – also known as “server farms” – whose cloud-based storage capacity would be available to not only Augusta Sibley Mill tenants, but other area institutions, as well. There are no other large-scale data centers in Augusta.
The data center will be housed in the mill’s former boiler room, where the roof will be heightened by 40-feet to accommodate all the electronic gear, as well as heat exchangers to keep them cool. The most novel aspect of the center is that it will be powered and cooled by the waters of the Augusta Canal, which flow through the mill’s three built-in hydroelectric turbines at a rate of 600 million gallons a day.
As a high-tech business park, Augusta Cyber Works will provide a springboard for hundreds of qualifying transitioning veterans and citizens of Augusta to seek industry leading certification and employment in the Cyber Security Industry.
Progress: Augusta-based information technology firm EDTS moved into the building in early 2017 into offices in a refurbished building on the grounds of Sibley Mill. The open house showcasing the EDTS new offices occurred August 29, 2017. EDTS signed a 10-year lease on the 32,500-square-foot space in the mill’s historic “Cotton Store” building. EDTS, which provides managed IT and cybersecurity services throughout the Southeast, is the anchor tenant for the project’s first phase, which includes the refurbishment of the 136-year-old former textile mill and its surrounding property.
Phase 2 broke ground in August 2017 and will be home to UMBC (University of Maryland, Baltimore County) Training Center’s Cyber Warrior Program.
MAY 2016
In Progress