Microsoft starts Phase 3 in Quincy

Lynne Lynch/Columbia Basin Herald<br> Microsoft's data center in Quincy is under expansion to create additional storage space. Grading work was being done this week.

by Lynne Lynch<br
| May 20, 2010 9:00 PM

QUINCY — Thanks to a new tax break for server equipment, Microsoft recently started expansion work on Phase 3 of its existing data center in Quincy.

Microsoft’s expansion creates more storage at the site, ranging between 40,000 to 60,000 additional square-feet, said Carl Worley, a building official with the City of Quincy.

He called the current grading “preliminary prep work” on the site.

The project’s building permit application is being reviewed by a contract reviewer.

Quincy City Administrator Tim Snead said Microsoft was waiting for the tax bill to pass.

“It’s because of the bill, they were talking to us 24 hours after the governor signed it,” he said Tuesday. “I was betting it was going to be an hour. They just wanted to start the process on what they need to do.”

Rep. Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake, Rep. Bill Hinkle, R-Cle-Elum, and Sen. Janéa Holmquist, R-Moses Lake, sponsored the bill.

“When this tax exemption passed the Legislature, we knew it would save jobs, but now we are seeing it is creating jobs,” stated Warnick.

“I’ve always said these data centers are a great mix with our agriculture industry. They appreciate our clean, plentiful hydroelectric energy and we appreciate the opportunities they provide the people and communities in our area,” she added. “Just last summer, we heard Microsoft might be moving to Oregon; I’m glad to see we kept them here in Washington.”

Hinkle explained the news about Microsoft could lead to more companies considering Quincy.

“It proves when you ease tax burdens on employers, they have more opportunities to grow and provide jobs,” Hinkle stated. “I am especially proud of Quincy for extending its hand to companies, offering the clean energy and expansive fiber optic lines these centers require.”

Pat Boss, a government affairs consultant for the Port of Quincy, called the bill’s passage and Microsoft’s expansion “somewhat of a cause and a effect.”

“I think we can all be proud of the fact the bill is starting to have some impact on the economy and that’s a good thing,” Boss commented.

The Port of Quincy is also seeing “a heightened level of interest” from between four and five major technology companies.

Third parties are representing the companies and their identities have not been revealed.

But Boss is hearing from the companies that discussions in Washington, D.C. concerning taxing carbon emissions is causing Quincy to be looked at more favorably because of the hydropower’s availability.

“It’s been very helpful in getting Quincy on the national map again,” Boss commented.

Boss called it “a grand irony” that Washington state doesn’t consider hydropower a renewable source of energy.

“Basically, all the private sector site selectors we talk to, or environmental directors, look at Quincy as the greenest site in the country,” he said.

See more photos here.