Google Announcing $600M Data Center Will Go Up Near Omaha

PAPILLION, Neb. (AP) -- Google is holding a groundbreaking Friday morning for a $600 million data center it plans to build in an Omaha suburb.

A news release says Gov. Pete Rickets will join Papillion Mayor David Black and other officials at the event. Google confirmed Thursday that it was behind the project, which had been known locally only as Project Wizard as officials worked on development and utility agreements.

The center will be erected on a 275-acre site on the west side of Papillion. Among its future neighbors are data centers for Travelers Insurance and Facebook.

Officials have said at least 30 people will work there after the center is completed over the next 18 to 24 months.

Google also has two data centers less than 13 miles northeast in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Meanwhile, Becker continues to work with Google executives to bring a similar data center to their industrial park.  City leaders say it may be sometime next year before that happens.