DC BLOX, an Atlanta-based provider of data center, network and cloud services at the edge, plans to development a new data center facility in Birmingham, Alabama.

According to the Birmingham Business Alliance, DC BLOX plans to use the 27-acre former Trinity Steel site in downtown Birmingham to develop a technology and innovation campus that will drive the connected digital economy in Birmingham and all of Alabama.

This project has the potential to be a $785 million investment over the next 10 years, depending on the success of DC BLOX and Birmingham to attract marquee clients and their employees, officials said.

“The Birmingham data center campus will unquestionably be our flagship property, capable of scaling to over 200,000 square feet of secure, government-grade data center space,” said Jeff Uphues, CEO of DC BLOX. “We believe this site will be a highly compelling alternative in the Southeast to Atlanta for enterprise, hyperscale cloud, Software-as-a-Service, government, network and content providers.

“It’s our focus to create a multi-purpose innovation campus with collaborative workspaces worthy of housing global technology companies and academia dedicated to research and collaboration,” he added.

“DC BLOX wanted to be in Birmingham because of its strong local economy, geographic location, fiber optic network connectivity and the University of Alabama at Birmingham,” said Mark Masi, COO of DC BLOX. “We are thankful to the City of Birmingham, Jefferson County and the State of Alabama for collaborating with DC BLOX on this project.”

Groundbreaking of the multi-tenant facility in Birmingham will begin August 2018 with Phase 1 delivering 31,000 square feet and configurable up to 5MW of customer capacity by early 2019. The Birmingham data center will join DC BLOX’s Atlanta, Huntsville and Chattanooga sites on the company’s high-speed, high-capacity private optical network.

“The significant investment being made by DC BLOX to open this data center in Birmingham will not only create high-paying jobs, but also bring an exciting new chapter to a neighborhood in the city with a long industrial history,” Alabama Governor Kay Ivey said. “We’re committed to positioning Alabama for a technology-focused future and look forward to working with the company to accelerate that process.”

Jefferson County Commissioner David Carrington said DC BLOX’s data center will attract future business. “DC BLOX will be a tremendous asset to the existing companies throughout Jefferson County and a tool to attract new companies here,” said Carrington. “This takes Birmingham’s thriving innovation ecosystem beyond its usual physical boundaries of the city center and extends it into an area that will only strengthen our core.”

“Because data centers represent the backbone of the technology infrastructure, we see strategic benefits for Alabama to host state-of-the-art centers that keep the world connected,” said Greg Canfield, Secretary of the Alabama Department of Commerce. “DC BLOX is joining an impressive roster of technology companies selecting Alabama for their data centers, and we want to see that list grow.”