It’s what Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb calls the largest capital investment ever in Indiana. There will soon be an $11 billion Amazon Data Center in St. Joseph County.
It’s supposed to create roughly 1,000 jobs. There was a groundbreaking ceremony for it Monday at the Century Center, which is about 13 miles away from the data center project.
“We made the commitment that they were going to have a development agreement. Amazon went ahead and started building, they have a time frame,” said St. Joseph County Commissioner Carl Baxmeyer. “The trust between the county, Amazon, it was there early on.”
Holcomb said the deal was done because people came together.
“And that’s what makes this project the single largest project in our state’s history. By the way, one that will be very difficult to top,” Holcomb said. “The momentum powered by AWS’s decision in the local community to lean into a space that is literally going to define the future right here in South Bend, and St. Joe, and New Carlisle, Indiana.”
Leaders at Amazon say that St. Joseph County was appealing because of workforce development as well as wind and solar projects that are planned for the future.
Some of the buildings are expected to be done by next year and construction will then continue for 10-15 years.
There was a job fair in the Century Center parking lot after the groundbreaking ceremony.
