Company purchases 50 acres from port for data storage

QUINCY — The exclamation "Yahoo!" is still on the minds and lips of Quincy residents, and that's not about to change any time soon.

Yahoo! Inc. finalized its deal with the Port of Quincy to purchase 50 acres of land Friday afternoon.

Port of Quincy commissioner Patric Connelly said he does not know the Yahoo! timetable for starting construction, but he was glad to see the deal close, the latest in a series of economic developments occurring in Quincy.

"It's another thing down, so now we go on to the next one, whatever that's going to be," Connelly said.

A Yahoo! spokesperson declined to comment.

Yahoo! began looking in Grant County last year, asking Grant County Public Utility District for a long-term commitment to use the utility's Zipp fiber optic network.

Port of Quincy officials announced in February that the Internet giant had signed a purchase and sales agreement with the port district.

Since then, while Quincy also feted the arrival of Microsoft Network, which broke ground earlier this year on its own data storage center, Yahoo! has made several overtures within the community, including assisting the historic Reiman-Simmons House with several projects for a day, and making a $15,000 sponsorship deal to become the first ever title sponsor of the Grant County Economic Development Council's annual Duel in the Desert and Party on the Green, to be held Aug. 4 and 5.

Connelly said Yahoo! was as good to deal with as Microsoft, and added the company will be equally good for the community.