WOOD COUNTY, Ohio — Wood County could soon be home to a Fortune 200 company with 50 full-time employees.
MIddleton Township trustees discussed plans for a $750 million project during a trustees' zoning meeting on Sept. 20.
During the meeting, trustees confirmed plans to bring a data center from a major company to northwest Ohio. The facility would be built on land near I-75 and State Route 582, within the township, between Perrysburg and Bowling Green.
"There are alternatives to this kind of project that can go in there. It could be e-commerce fulfillment that could go in there, it could be trucking distribution centers. Both of which would have a much more negative impact on the surrounding neighbors and surrounding properties and they don't bring the same dollar amount per square foot as a data center," said Middleton Township Board of Trustees chairman Mike Multon.
If the proposal moves forward, trustees say construction is expected to begin in 2026 with the facility opening its doors in 2030.
Trustees could not confirm the name of the company behind the proposed development.
Dean Monkse, president and CEO of Regional Growth Partnership, said the pending data center development is one of several projects northwest Ohio brings in each year.
"What it says to the rest of the country and quite frankly the rest of the globe is we know what company's needs are that are looking to expand and we are leveraging our assets to address those needs," Monske said. "That's really powerful to get opportunities here in Toledo and northwest Ohio."
Records from the Wood County auditor's website show that Liames LLC purchased 279 acres of land in the area of the proposed data center. Those parcels of land are off of N. Dixie Highway and Mercer Road, near I-75 and State Route 582.
The property is split between the Eastwood and Otsego local school districts.
The project took another step forward Thursday when trustees approved a 75%, 15-year tax abatement for the project.
Wade Gottschalk, the executive director of Wood County Economic Development, said the schools will still get that money. He said the tax revenue will come in the year following the center's opening, meaning that Otsego, Eastwood and the PENTA Career Center would likely see the benefit in 2031.
"They'll get the 25% for normal taxes then they'll get virtually made whole from a compensation agreement to cover the difference," Gottschalk said.
Eastwood approved a 75% tax abatement for Liames LLC for 15 years, according to minutes from the school board meeting.
The Otsego School Board approved a similar tax abatement for the project during Wednesday night’s meeting.
"We actually had a meeting last night and discussed this abatement with Wade Gottschalk from Wood County," school board president Brad Anderson told WTOL 11. "Our treasurer, Steve Carroll, has been instrumental in working with Wade and informing the Otsego board with the specifics of this project. Although we have a bit of trepidation after dealing with NEXUS and their pipeline, we, as a board, unanimously approved moving forward with a potential abatement for this project."
While the plan is moving forward, Gottschalk says there is still work to be done before construction begins.
"The company would still want to go through a site plan approval process to make sure what they envision building here is approved by the township."
A listed address for Liames LLC goes to a law office in Columbus, according to the county auditor's records. It's not clear who is in charge of the LLC.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to include further developments.
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