The Western Virginia Regional Industrial Facility Authority confirmed Friday morning that Google is the corporate parent behind a data center project being planned for Wood Haven Technology Park in Roanoke County.
“We are proud to partner with Google to support jobs, strengthen the regional tax base and fund community investment,” John Hull, executive director of the authority, said in a press release.
On Sept. 11, the authority voted to initiate a purchase agreement with Clearview Dynamics for 94 acres of land at Wood Haven. The land is jointly owned by Roanoke, Roanoke County and Salem. It was later confirmed that the land, near the junction of interstates 81 and 581, would be used for a data center with water coming from Spring Hollow.
Regional public affairs manager for Google, Clay Allsop, said in the release that Google is “proud of the relationships” it has built in the community since announcing a data center campus in Botetourt County.
“We will continue our due diligence process on Wood Haven and keep the local community updated as more information is available,” Allsop said.
That process, expected to run through March 2027, involves evaluating the property with engineering and geotechnical assessments of the land, utility capacity studies and environmental reviews.
The authority last week pulled out of a nondisclosure agreement it had with Clearview Dynamics, the company it has initiated a purchase agreement with for the land, citing transparency concerns throughout the region.
One local opposition group, the Southwest Virginia Data Center Transparency Alliance, has been vocal against the project, with many members showing up during the Sept. 11 meeting to speak before the vote was made and after the vote was made, when little information on the project was shared.
The group has since filed Freedom of Information Act requests for more information on the nondisclosure agreements and details on the project. One member, Kathryn Hatam, said she feels the group has been “getting the runaround” when seeking information.
Hull said in last week’s release that the authority still had “ethical obligations” to protect project information, including the name of the buyer’s corporate parent — now identified as Google.
Cardinal News asked officials a series of questions, including how Clearview Dynamics and Google will split project costs moving forward, what Clearview Dynamics’ involvement will be moving forward, what is the relationship between Clearview Dynamics and Google and why the purchase agreement initiated with Clearview Dynamics and not Google. Hull declined to release any further details.
A Google spokesperson confirmed that Clearview Dynamics is a subsidiary of Google but declined to answer other questions.
