Real estate firm Thor Equities is looking to build a 460,000 sq ft (42,735 sqm) data center campus near the city of Urbana in western Ohio.

Urbana residents began speculating about a potential data center proposal after a local newspaper reported that Thor Equities had bought a 47.6-acre land parcel located at the corner of State Route 55 and US Route 68, near a factory operated by Rittal, a German electrical enclosure manufacturer.

A statement about the data center proposal was then read out during a council meeting in February.

Thor Equities has now created a website about the so-called Urbana Technology Hub in a bid to keep the planning process transparent.

But yesterday, the Urbana City Council voted unanimously in favor of a motion to begin repealing a zoning ordinance that allows data centers as a permitted use on land zoned as light industrial.

It is unclear how this will impact Thor Equities’ plans if this goes ahead.

A project overview document issued by the City of Urbana seems to indicate that it will only be one building. Thor has said that the data center will be single-story and approximately 40 feet tall.

The company has also claimed that the facility will use closed-loop cooling and will not impact local utility rates, adding that the “end-user will pay for all necessary grid and transmission upgrades.”

The identity of any potential end-user was not disclosed.

Investment into the facility will total around $1 billion, and Thor claims that it will provide around $6 million in tax revenue for the City of Urbana and its schools.

Founded in 1986, Thor has traditionally focused on retail, residential, and industrial buildings. Its portfolio spans locations in the US, Europe, and Latin America. Thor’s data center developments are managed through its Form8tion unit, founded in March 2023.

Thor also acquired land in a separate Ohio location in Van Wert County last August.