Terremark, like the information it routes over the Internet, moves fast.
Nine months ago, no one in Culpeper had heard of the Miami-based company. Now, the network access point has a 50,000-square-foot high-security building under roof and plans to open its facility off McDevitt Drive in June.
"We're a little ahead of schedule, Norm Laudermilch, managing director of the Culpeper operation (officially called NAP of the Capital Region), said yesterday. "Still, there's a lot of work to be done to launch a facility of this nature."
Laudermilch isn't kidding. Plans calls for:
Five 50,000-square-foot computer buildings to be built over a five- to seven-year period at a minimum investment of $270 million.
An additional 72,000 square feet of office space on site.
Two hundred and fifty new jobs with a projected annual payroll of $22.5 million. That's an average salary of $90,000.
It is little wonder that Culpeper County and the town of Culpeper offered incentives to land the high-tech company.
Terremark is expected to aid the local economy in numerous ways, from providing high-paying jobs to filling the town's hotels (two new inns are scheduled to be built almost within sight of the facility) to increasing traffic at Culpeper Regional Airport.
"We want to be a positive and productive part of this county," Laudermilch said. "We want to do our part to add to the economic development of the county. Bringing Terremark here is more than just doing business here."
Still, business is what keeps the company's bottom line healthy and, despite talk of a recession, Laudermilch says prospects for the Culpeper facility are good.
"We're very pleased with the way opportunities are shaping up," he said. "We're already bringing customers from all over the country here to see the facility."
A POWERFUL OPERATION
For the time being, Laudermilch is operating out of rented office space at the Germanna Community College Technology Center next door. That's where the company will likely begin interviewing prospective employees as early as April.
Right now, though, construction is the main order of the day:
Inside the 10-inch-thick concrete walls and under the floors, miles of electrical conduit are in place and ready to be encased in concrete.
Atop these basement floors will sit 55 2.2-megawatt generators that will provide multiple backups in case of power loss.
Outside, three tanks will hold half a million gallons of diesel fuel that will fuel those generators in case of an emergency.
"We provide our customers with a 100 percent guarantee that this facility will keep their computers in operation," Laudermilch said.
Those computers will fill the 50,000 square feet of the main floor, which has a 22-foot-high ceiling. Around the walls, 8-inch pipes are being installed to circulate water and maintain 70-degree temperatures.
"Large computers don't run as hot as they used to, but they still require cooling," Laudermilch said.
To ensure that Terremark has enough power, Rappahannock Electric is doubling its line capacity in the area.
Founded 28 years ago by Cuban-born Manuel Medina, Terremark provides two basic services:
It allows customers to co-locate computers to provide a backup in case of a disaster. Culpeper Managing Director Norm Laudermilch alluded to the Sept. 11, 2001, World Trade Center attacks, when companies located there had computer systems destroyed and had to rely on backups elsewhere.
"It is cheaper for them to rent space in our facility than build another building," he said. "We would have a mirror image of their computer site."
Terremark also serves as a primary computer site for many companies that may access their secure files in several ways, including by satellite.
"About 90 percent of the [Internet] traffic between North and South America goes through our [750,000-square-foot] facility in Miami," Laudermilch said.
It's the Incentive(posted by
RDN
, Jan. 18, 2008 10:41 pm)
I heard that one of our citizens called over to Culpeper to find out what they paid in incentives to get the $270 million dollar investment. The answer was $4 million. Now let me see, we're going to pay $61 million plus fee waivers for a $200 million project. I haven't verified this, but if it is true, we are getting taken. I guess the Kalahari elephant smelled desperation and a naive city council. Go the meeting on Jan. 22 and tell the mayor and city manager to go back to the negotiating table.
Thank you Culpeper(posted by
cjdr
, Jan. 17, 2008 2:14 pm)
I'm happy you were able to attract this. this means that the already bad traffic during rush hour by my house will not increase. I could only imagine how bad Rte 3 and Central Park would become if something like this, with 9-5 jobs would be added here. I'll stick to tourists and water park folks. Eventually Fredericksburg will be ready for development like this, but probably not in the next 10 years.
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