AT&T to build 900,000 sq ft data center

AT&T Bell South Telecommunications LLC announced plans today to build a data center on Countryside Road in Kings Mountain.

Investment will be in excess of $850 million spread throughout the next 14 years and 106 jobs will be created in the next four years.

The facility will be 900,000 square feet and will be located beside the current T5 data center park on Riverside Drive.

"As far as capital investment, it's the biggest thing to date," said David Dear, former county manager who remains part of the county's economic development team. "It is just a really positive thing for our community and will lead to more positive things down the road."

Dear and Cleveland County Economic Development Partnership Vice President Kristin Fletcher said they have been working with Bell South for the past two and a half years, hoping to bring them to Cleveland County.

The company spent two years before that looking at other sites.

That process included weekly conference calls during the past several months.

Fletcher said continued growth in Kings Mountain near U.S. 74, between the data center park and business center park, may lead to more retail opportunities in the area.

"We think these projects will act as a catalyst for further retail," she said.

The Bell South operation is expected to be operational by second quarter 2014.

Factors that played into Bell South agreeing to come to Cleveland County included location -- including the unliklihood of natural disasters -- as well as low cost of energy, water, sewer, and fiber optic infastructure.

Dear said big name corporations like Apple, Microsoft, and Yahoo! visited the site as well. It was only a matter of time, he said, before another big name made plans to move in.

"We knew we would have a hit at some point," Dear said.