The Daily Dig
Google has been confirmed as the sole end-user and operator of the Columbia County Data Center. The project will rise on 1,900 acres northwest of the existing White Oak Business Park, with the Augusta Chronicle placing the site between Appling and Harlem, Georgia. The Columbia County Board of Commissioners and the county's Economic Development Authority made the announcement jointly on Thursday, July 23. The development will consist of 23 separate data center buildings totaling 8 million square feet.
Board Chairman Doug Duncan, County Manager Scott Johnson, and EDA Executive Director Cheney Eldridge traveled to Washington, D.C. as part of the rollout. They joined President Trump for the unveiling of the Ratepayer Protection Pledge, a voluntary, non-binding federal initiative meant to protect ratepayers from utility cost increases tied to data center development. Google has committed to paying all energy costs associated with this specific project.
County leaders are pairing that commitment with new development covenants for the site. Those terms include strict, non-negotiable decibel limits, specific lighting standards, and minimal footprint and visibility requirements. They also include protections for the local water supply and an end-of-useful-life strategy for the facility. Duncan said growth of this scale strengthens the commercial tax base and, over time, should ease how heavily county services rely on residential property owners.
The project has drawn scrutiny since April 2025, when Trammell Crow Company, a CBRE subsidiary, first filed a Development of Regional Impact application for the site. Two additional data center proposals followed in the county. Leaders rejected one and approved another near the Pumpkin Center community. Residents have pushed back against the county's recent embrace of data center development, and local reporting indicates the new covenants were designed in part to address that criticism.. The South Central and South Atlantic regions each dropped more than 30%.
Snapshot:
Project Name: Columbia County Data Center
End User/Operator: Google
Location: Northwest of White Oak Business Park; Augusta Chronicle places site between Appling and Harlem, Columbia County, Georgia
Region: Northwest of Augusta, Georgia
Size: 8 million sq ft (743,224 sqm)
Land Area: 1,900 acres
Number of Buildings: 23 data center buildings
Announced By: Columbia County Board of Commissioners and Economic Development Authority
Announcement Date: July 23, 2026
Key Officials: Doug Duncan, Board Chairman; Scott Johnson, County Manager; Cheney Eldridge, EDA Executive Director; Rick Evans, EDA Chairman
Original Developer/Applicant: Trammell Crow Company (CBRE subsidiary)
Original Application Filed: April 2025
Utility Partner: Georgia Power Co.
Energy Cost Commitment: Google to pay all energy costs associated with the project
Development Covenants: Decibel limits, lighting standards, minimal footprint and visibility requirements, water supply protections, end of useful life strategy
Related Approval: Two other proposals followed; one rejected, one approved near Pumpkin Center
TheJobWalk Thoughts
The covenant package matters most for how it shapes deal structure, not just design. Locked-in decibel limits, lighting rules, and water protections are entitlement conditions now, which means they can flow into owner requirements and bid documents on future Georgia projects tied to this same developer or county.
Google covering all energy costs on this project is a term worth watching. It signals hyperscalers may be willing to absorb more upfront cost to move projects through public approval faster, which is useful leverage for GCs pricing power infrastructure scope on similarly contested sites.
Two other proposals moved through this county alongside this one, and only one got approved. That is a clear signal for subs and suppliers chasing Georgia data center work: local approval odds vary site by site, even within the same county and the same growth cycle.
