Microsoft to expand Quincy footprint

QUINCY - Microsoft officials confirmed earlier this week plans to expand the company's Quincy operations.

Construction on a new data center will begin in the spring of 2014, according to a Microsoft spokesperson. The first phase of the expansion is anticipated to be completed by early 2015.

The data center expansion will create nearly 100 full-time jobs once it is open, according to Microsoft.

Port of Quincy commissioner Curt Morris said Microsoft is currently in the process of purchasing 200 acres of land from the port for about $11 million. The sale is likely to close in January, he said.

Morris said the port currently owns 60 of those 200 acres. However, the port is in the process of purchasing the additional adjacent acres and will then re-sell it to Microsoft, he said.

"In total, we're selling the whole 200 acres," Morris said. "Sixty acres we previously owned, the other 140-some acres we're buying it from a private party and we'll sell that to Microsoft."

The new parcel is in the vicinity of the about 75 acres Microsoft already owns, he said.

Microsoft currently delivers services to more than 1 billion customers and more than 20 million businesses.

"As demand grows for our online and cloud services, Microsoft is anticipating growth in its cloud infrastructure and we are continuously exploring new potential datacenter locations and investing in space to bring these services to our customers," a Microsoft spokesperson said.

Morris said the expansion is great news for the area's economy. While there will be about 100 direct jobs created, there will be a number of indirect jobs created as well, he said.

"This is going to have a huge impact out here," he said.