Atlanta-based tech firm to expand its SC footprint in Santee Cooper land deal
An Atlanta technology firm is expanding its footprint in South Carolina by purchasing land in a Berkeley County business park being developed by the state’s public-owned utility.
Santee Cooper plans to sell 27 acres in Camp Hall Commerce Park for about $4.2 million to DC Blox, a Southeast regional data center and network provider. An appraisal determined the property’s value.
DC Blox plans to develop and operate a data center and related facilities at the site in the nearly 7,000-acre industrial park. The number of jobs it will create was not immediately available.
The project requires Moncks Corner-based Santee Cooper to build a road, utility and stormwater infrastructure that will also serve other Camp Hall sites at the cost of $6 million and could generate $35 million in future capital investment, according to an estimate.
DC Blox is expanding operations elsewhere in the Palmetto State. The Camp Hall project will be the third in the state for the company.
The firm recently broke ground on a $31.5 million data center at the 460-acre International Technology and Aerospace Park, an area adjacent to the Myrtle Beach International Airport.
The Grand Strand investment will serve as the landing point for fiber-optic line that connect countries via garden-hosed sized subsea cables that are laid on the ocean floor.
A nearly 500-mile route will be constructed after the data center is completed to link a coastal landing station to Atlanta by way of nine South Carolina counties: Horry, Georgetown, Charleston, Berkeley, Dorchester, Orangeburg, Bamberg, Barnwell and Aiken.
When finished in 2024, the project will connect the Grand Strand to Europe and other continents while also allowing the startup company to extend internet access to underserved areas across South Carolina.
The Myrtle Beach facility is the second data center DC Blox has developed in South Carolina. The company’s first data center opened in Greenville in January.
Founded in 2014, the company also operates data centers across the Southeast in Atlanta, Alabama and Tennessee.