Partial demolition given greenlight-Google will upgrade its original data center in Oregon.
The facility, built in 2006, is located at 4200 Columbia Road in The Dalles, a city in northern Oregon.
As reported by Columbia Community Connection News (CCCN), Google acquired a permit for demolition work on May 8.
CCCN reported that the demolition would remove the exterior infrastructure and interior finishes belonging to “Data Hall DLS 83” whilst keeping the core structure of the data hall and the utility plant.
Chirs Mussett, PR manager for Google’s technical infrastructure division, told CCCN: "This is part of a routine plan to remove dated equipment to make way for new upgrades supporting our products and Google Cloud customers.”
Google has since expanded its presence in The Dalles. This original facility was expanded in 2015, and further tax concessions for two new buildings were granted in 2021.
This did not go unnoticed: In 2021, the city sued to prevent local publication The Oregonian from accessing data about the facility’s water use. The lawsuit was eventually dropped, showing that its facilities in The Dalles used more than a quarter of the city’s water supply.
Two more facilities will be added at 3500 River Road, with construction beginning in September 2024.
Oregon’s status as an attractive data center market has pulled in large operators like Amazon, Meta, and Apple. In April, a bill was passed to ensure that data centers pay their fair share of energy infrastructure costs.
