Des Moines, IA, November 16, 2012 – Iowa Governor Terry Branstad and Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds were joined by Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, Council Bluffs Mayor Tom Hanafan, Council Bluffs officials, and representatives from Google today at a news conference at the State Capitol in Des Moines.
During the news conference, the leaders detailed Google’s plan to continue expansion of its data center operations in Iowa. With this additional investment, Google surpasses a major milestone of investing over $1 billion in Iowa.
Council Bluffs Mayor Tom Hanafan noted, “Google is a good neighbor, as we’d say here in Iowa, helping our local schools, non-profits and the community. The decision to continue its substantial investment in Council Bluffs reflects the strong partnership our city and county governments have built with Google.”
Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal (D-Council Bluffs) stated, “Google’s decision to build in Iowa, and its continued investment are a clear example of a successful local, state and private partnership. Working together, we’ve built a framework for success that benefits the people of Council Bluffs and Carter Lake, private industry and the State of Iowa. Google has been a great corporate citizen because of its support for local schools, small businesses and nonprofit organizations.”
“Google’s decision to continue its investment in Iowa is a tribute to the company, and to Iowa,” said Governor Terry Branstad. “We have worked hard to make Iowa an attractive and safe place to do business, and this is another example of that work bringing great results. Google has found a unique recipe in Iowa: an educated workforce, reliable tax structure, and reasonable energy costs. Google’s substantial investment, now totaling more than $1.1 billion, represents a major step towards Iowa building a diversified and forward looking economy.” Coming within four years of first opening the Council Bluffs Data Center, surpassing the $1 billion investment amount puts Google in the top tier of new companies that have chosen Iowa as an operations center.
The Google data center in Council Bluffs currently employs more than 130 workers and houses computer systems and associated components that support services such as Google Search, Gmail, Google Maps, and new products including Google+.
“Since opening our data center operations here in 2009, we have been committed to Council Bluffs and to Iowa,” Google Data Center Operations Manager Chris Russell said. “We have an outstanding workforce in the Council Bluffs area, and we are so appreciative of the exceptional welcome we have received from the local community and the state of Iowa. We have now invested over a billion dollars in Iowa. We hope we’ve given Iowa more than a billion reasons to be optimistic and confident for our future together.”
The announcement comes a day after Google announced a $75 million equity investment in Rippey wind farm, a 50 megawatt facility developed by Iowa-based RPM Access.
