Google buys $14M parcel for Botetourt data center

Google has purchased a 312-acre parcel for $14.06 million at Botetourt County‘s Botetourt Center at Greenfield industrial park for data center development, county officials announced Tuesday.

Additionally, the Menlo Park, California-based Big Tech company has pledged to give $4 million over the next five years to support community projects in Botetourt, which encompasses Roanoke suburbs and rural farmland.

Botetourt County Administrator Gary Larrowe was not able to give an estimate of the number of jobs the project will create or a timeline for the construction. “All the details of this gigantic opportunity will not be provided today due to the fact that it’s not all known at this point,” he said.

Representatives from Google will make a separate announcement about the project at a later date, according to Larrowe.

Officials in Botetourt worked with the Roanoke Regional Partnership and the Virginia Economic Development Partnership as well as with Appalachian Power, a subsidiary of Ohio-based American Electric Power Co., the Western Virginia Water Authority, the Virginia Department of Transportation and Roanoke Gas on landing the proposed data center, according to Larrowe.

“This project broadens our industrial mix and puts the area on the map in a sector that is increasingly becoming the foundation of the modern economy,” John Hull, executive director of the Roanoke Regional Partnership, said Tuesday. “Projects like this do not happen in isolation. They bring suppliers, service providers … [and] spin off opportunities over time.”

Across the state, Virginians, particularly in rural areas, have turned up at local government meetings to object to data center development, citing noise and the amount of resources required to run the facilities. But Hull doesn’t that expect to be a problem with the Google at Greenfield project because the industrial park is set away from residential areas. “It’s really the ideal solution for a quality investment,” he said.

Google will not have to go through a county zoning process to move forward with the project. “The property is designed for data center usage,” explained Larrowe.

Larrowe became county administrator in 2016. At the time, he recalled, Altec and a fish food storage company were the only businesses at Greenfield. “Today, we’re talking about it being full,” he said.

In March, Munters, an air treatment and climate control solutions company with its global headquarters in Sweden, announced plans to invest $29.95 million on a 200,000-square-foot expansion of its HVAC manufacturing facility at Greenfield. Its neighbors include Australian-based Pratt Industries, a corrugated packaging company, and Italy-based Eldor Corp. S.p.A, an auto parts company.

Larrowe became weepy Tuesday discussing the effort it’s taken to get the deal over the finish line since county officials first began talking with Google in January 2024. “I need to apologize to my family. To my friends, to even … citizens and the staff here, and that is for the absence of my time during this project,” he said. “It has taken 18 months of everything that we could do, pushing forward.”

On Tuesday, Larrowe shared a PowerPoint presentation on how the county plans to spend the money it is receiving from Google from the land sale and community funding, including $2 million for Botetourt County Schools, $162,966 to purchase two deputy vehicles; about $2.59 million for the Botetourt County Sheriff’s Office and the county commonwealth attorney’s office; and $3.6 million for a community events center.

Charlottesville-based Apex Clean Energy announced in December 2024 that it had reached a deal for Google to purchase the full capacity of Rocky Forge Wind, a wind farm the Charlottesville renewable energy company has been working to develop in Botetourt since 2015.

“Google has invested significantly in the commonwealth, and I am proud that they have chosen Botetourt County as the site of their newest data center,” Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said in a statement released Tuesday. “Virginia is the data center capital of the world, and this latest investment reinforces our global leadership in the industry. Botetourt offers the space, infrastructure and skilled workforce that innovative companies like Google demand. This move signals the industry’s growing interest in expanding beyond Northern Virginia and highlights the county’s strong commitment to smart growth. I look forward to the positive effects this project will generate across the Roanoke region for years to come.”