Sabey Data Centers has held a “Going Vertical” ceremony to mark the start of above-ground construction at SDC Umatilla, a new data center campus in northeast Oregon.
According to the company, the event took place on Wednesday, July 15 and brought together local and state officials, community and utility partners, and construction and design teams to recognise the first steel being erected on site.
The company said the milestone follows years of planning, engineering and site preparation, and signals the project’s move into a visible construction phase. Sabey Data Centers said the campus is located in the “Columbia Cloud Corridor” and is intended to support hyperscale, enterprise and colocation customers seeking network connectivity and capacity to scale, amid growing demand driven by cloud computing and artificial intelligence.
“Watching the first steel go up is always a significant moment because it turns years of planning, engineering and hard work into something you can finally see,” said Tim Mirick, president of Sabey Data Centers. “We are excited to build here, excited to become part of this community, and committed to serving our customers and this region for many years to come.”
Oregon State Representative Bobby Levy said the facility would support connectivity for critical services and businesses, and highlighted the project’s proposed closed-loop cooling system. “I’m especially pleased that Sabey’s use of a closed-loop cooling system demonstrates that innovation and responsible resource stewardship can go hand in hand,” Levy said.
National Real Estate Advisors managing director TJ Hofheimer said the firm viewed the project as aligned with its investment criteria and credited collaboration among Sabey, local leaders and stakeholders for progressing the development to this stage.
Sabey Data Centers said hundreds of skilled tradespeople are expected to work on the project over coming months, with local businesses supporting construction activity as the company continues its investment in Umatilla and northeast Oregon.
