Building Trades View Data Centers as ‘Infrastructure of the Future’

The Business Journal Daily reports that local building trades in the Mahoning Valley, Ohio, advocate for data center construction, highlighting potential job creation and tax benefits while addressing public concerns about energy and water usage. Martin Loney, president of the Western Reserve Building Trades & Construction Council, asserts that modern data centers employ closed-loop cooling and behind-the-meter power sources to mitigate environmental and grid impacts. Two specific data center projects are discussed. In Lordstown, Bristolville 25 Developer LLC is planning a facility, but the community has mobilized opposition, leading the Village Council to pass a 180-day moratorium on data center development after initially banning them. Bristolville has subsequently filed a lawsuit in the Ohio Supreme Court against the village, claiming its zoning department failed to advance the developer's plans. A separate, smaller data center at the former General Motors plant in Lordstown, involving SoftBank Group and Foxconn, is already underway and is unaffected by the moratorium. Another proposed data center campus is being eyed by Applied Partners in the village of McDonald on a 52-acre brownfield site. Mike Cenit, a principal of Applied Partners, indicates plans to expand the site to 350 acres for nearly 2.5 million square feet of data center space. Formal plans have not yet been filed, but the project is seen as a signature opportunity for local trades. Building trade leaders emphasize that data centers are the "infrastructure of the future" and can significantly boost local employment, citing a United Association study on union contractor involvement in such projects nationwide.