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| Is it worthwhile for NYC to pursue data centers? (2018754) | |
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| (2018754) | |
Is it worthwhile for NYC to pursue data centers? |
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Posted by Peter Rosa on Mon Jun 30 12:14:37 2025 Meta has started construction on one of the world’s largest data centers on 2000-acre site in rural northern Louisiana. At an estimated cost of $10 billion it will consist of nine buildings with a total of 4 million square feet. Like any major development these days it is getting a whole array of government incentives, and as it will require a huge amount of electricity - at peak times, more than the entire city of New Orleans - the local utility has agreed to build three new power plants to serve it.Despite all this, the project has gotten some criticism because it won’t create as many jobs as one might imagine. While there will be about 5,000 construction jobs upon completion it will employ only about 500. That’s the nature of data centers. Even with these low job number I fully believe NYC should have made a bid for the center. The city’s image is at one of the lowest points in decades, between WFH, a perception (if not necessarily the reality) of rising crime, bumbling incompetence when it comes to any sort of major project (for example East River tunnel repairs of nearly 13-year-old damage), the hated congestion pricing, greedy public sector unions running wild, upstaging by dynamic Sunbelt cities … the list goes on and on. SOMETHING has to be done to give the city a desperately needed image/ego boost, and the Meta data center would have fit the bill. |
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| (2018755) | |
Re: Is it worthwhile for NYC to pursue data centers? |
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Posted by BILLBKLYN on Mon Jun 30 12:44:45 2025, in response to Is it worthwhile for NYC to pursue data centers?, posted by Peter Rosa on Mon Jun 30 12:14:37 2025. Why is a Long Islander concerned? I'm not. |
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| (2018763) | |
Re: Is it worthwhile for NYC to pursue data centers? |
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Posted by AlM on Mon Jun 30 12:59:01 2025, in response to Is it worthwhile for NYC to pursue data centers?, posted by Peter Rosa on Mon Jun 30 12:14:37 2025. The cost of electricity in NYC is far, far too high for any future data center owner to be interested. This is not even really the fault of NYC bureaucracy - running lines in cramped underground conditions is expensive.Hochul is talking about a new nuclear plant up on Lake Ontario somewhere. That's a good area for a data center too. |
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| (2018765) | |
Re: Is it worthwhile for NYC to pursue data centers? |
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Posted by Fisk Ave Jim on Mon Jun 30 13:07:52 2025, in response to Re: Is it worthwhile for NYC to pursue data centers?, posted by AlM on Mon Jun 30 12:59:01 2025. If the city wanted it bad enough, concessions could have been worked out. |
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| (2018770) | |
Re: Is it worthwhile for NYC to pursue data centers? |
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Posted by Spider-Pig on Mon Jun 30 13:31:26 2025, in response to Re: Is it worthwhile for NYC to pursue data centers?, posted by Fisk Ave Jim on Mon Jun 30 13:07:52 2025. You mean like a subsidy? Why? |
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| (2018771) | |
Re: Is it worthwhile for NYC to pursue data centers? |
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Posted by Fisk Ave Jim on Mon Jun 30 13:39:14 2025, in response to Re: Is it worthwhile for NYC to pursue data centers?, posted by Spider-Pig on Mon Jun 30 13:31:26 2025. Any subsidy would be offset by NYC/NYS payroll taxes of employees working there and the construction workers who built the place. And lets assume that many of those mentioned above would use mass transit to go to and fro. Any money there goes straight to the bottom line. |
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| (2018775) | |
Re: Is it worthwhile for NYC to pursue data centers? |
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Posted by Peter Rosa on Mon Jun 30 14:23:43 2025, in response to Re: Is it worthwhile for NYC to pursue data centers?, posted by Fisk Ave Jim on Mon Jun 30 13:39:14 2025. One thing that would be interesting to know is whether vertically oriented data centers are a workable idea. Multistory factories are obsolete but data centers might be different. If the idea can work, data centers could be perfect for empty office buildings. |
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| (2018776) | |
Re: Is it worthwhile for NYC to pursue data centers? |
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Posted by Peter Rosa on Mon Jun 30 14:26:35 2025, in response to Re: Is it worthwhile for NYC to pursue data centers?, posted by BILLBKLYN on Mon Jun 30 12:44:45 2025. Long Island and all the suburbs have a great deal of economic dependence on the city. In the case of Long Island, residents also are held hostage by the city’s bridge and tunnel tolls if they want to drive anywhere. |
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| (2018777) | |
Re: Is it worthwhile for NYC to pursue abolishing socialism? |
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Posted by Olog-hai on Mon Jun 30 14:41:05 2025, in response to Is it worthwhile for NYC to pursue data centers?, posted by Peter Rosa on Mon Jun 30 12:14:37 2025. Meta has started construction on one of the world’s largest data centers on 2000-acre site in rural northern LouisianaHave you considered why they picked that location? No socialism, maybe? |
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| (2018778) | |
Re: Is it worthwhile for NYC to pursue data centers? |
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Posted by Stephen Bauman on Mon Jun 30 14:42:59 2025, in response to Re: Is it worthwhile for NYC to pursue data centers?, posted by Peter Rosa on Mon Jun 30 14:23:43 2025. would be interesting to know is whether vertically oriented data centers are a workable idea.Vertical electric power distribution gets very complicated and expensive to build and maintain. This goes for simple office buildings, where there are not huge power demands. The second problem would be heat dissipation. An exhaust system blowing hot air through the roof is pretty simple for a single story factory. The floor for each story would be heated by escaped heat from the floor below. None of this is insurmountable, if there were compelling reasons for locating within NYC. |
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| (2018779) | |
Re: Is it worthwhile for NYC to pursue data centers? |
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Posted by Stephen Bauman on Mon Jun 30 14:45:07 2025, in response to Re: Is it worthwhile for NYC to pursue data centers?, posted by Peter Rosa on Mon Jun 30 14:26:35 2025. In the case of Long Island, residents also are held hostage by the city’s bridge and tunnel tolls if they want to drive anywhere.LI wasn't keen to build the Rye-Oyster Bay bridge. |
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| (2018780) | |
Re: Is it worthwhile for NYC to pursue data centers? |
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Posted by Orange Blossom Special on Mon Jun 30 14:49:30 2025, in response to Is it worthwhile for NYC to pursue data centers?, posted by Peter Rosa on Mon Jun 30 12:14:37 2025. It's probably illegal in NY, just like bitcoin and business. |
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| (2018787) | |
Re: Is it worthwhile for NYC to pursue data centers? |
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Posted by Spider-Pig on Mon Jun 30 15:53:11 2025, in response to Re: Is it worthwhile for NYC to pursue data centers?, posted by Fisk Ave Jim on Mon Jun 30 13:39:14 2025. What would be the point? If the venture is not profitable in the absence of a subsidy, why bother putting taxpayer money into it? You are apparently assuming that the employees wouldn’t get jobs in the absence of the government subsidy. That would make the whole thing a “make work” project. |
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| (2018820) | |
Re: Is it worthwhile for NYC to pursue data centers? |
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Posted by AlM on Mon Jun 30 18:19:15 2025, in response to Re: Is it worthwhile for NYC to pursue data centers?, posted by Fisk Ave Jim on Mon Jun 30 13:07:52 2025. Huge concessions.One kilowatt-hour of electricity cost $.30 in NYC. It's under a dime in many other places. |
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| (2018831) | |
Re: Is it worthwhile for NYC to pursue data centers? |
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Posted by Fisk Ave Jim on Mon Jun 30 22:26:25 2025, in response to Re: Is it worthwhile for NYC to pursue data centers?, posted by Peter Rosa on Mon Jun 30 14:26:35 2025. Then dont drive. Take the train. Lately the LIRR has improved its on time performance, access to GCT and its M9s.Metro North has kept its OTP in the mid 90s With all these options, anyone who drives into Manhattan these days needs their head examined. |
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| (2018836) | |
Re: Is it worthwhile for NYC to pursue data centers? |
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Posted by Olog-hai on Mon Jun 30 23:38:32 2025, in response to Re: Is it worthwhile for NYC to pursue data centers?, posted by Fisk Ave Jim on Mon Jun 30 22:26:25 2025. Anyone who goes to Manhattan these days needs their head examined, no matter what transportation mode. What's in Manhattan that anyone needs? It's Manhattan these days that needs to attract people in. |
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| (2018840) | |
Re: Is it worthwhile for NYC to pursue data centers? |
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Posted by Peter Rosa on Tue Jul 1 01:58:11 2025, in response to Re: Is it worthwhile for NYC to pursue data centers?, posted by Fisk Ave Jim on Mon Jun 30 22:26:25 2025. I haven’t been in Manhattan in almost a year and have no plans to go. The issue is that the obscene bridge tolls make it costly to drive from Long Island to anywhere else. |
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