Ground broken for new Aligned Data Centers campus in Conesville

Conesville Industrial Park celebrated a milestone with a groundbreaking ceremony for a new data center campus inside the park.

This development will stimulate the Brownfield site and activate commercial development by converting it into an economic mecca for Coshocton County and the state of Ohio.

Aligned Data Center will develop a 197-acre parcel adjacent to the former AEP Conesville Power Plant.

“Conesville stands out primarily as the best example of what is possible when a constellation of talented, dedicated folks roll up their sleeves to breathe investment and jobs into a Brownfield site," said Colton Brown, vice president of strategy and development at Aligned Data Centers. "Instrumental in making this project a reality is the Port Authority, AEP Ohio, the Coshocton County Commissioners, Ohio Southeast Holder in their constellation of trades and stocks, Frontier, and the Ohio Department of Development and the All Ohio Future Fund. We are looking forward to our future ground breakings for our second, third and fourth buildings in the future and beyond."

Coshocton Port Authority Executive Director Tiffany Swigert said, "It is truly an honor to be here today celebrating the groundbreaking of Aligned Data Centers right here in Coshocton, Ohio. Today is a beginning for a vision of innovation, growth and opportunity that will echo far beyond this site. Aligned Data Centers stands at the forefront of technological advancement and redefining what data infrastructure can achieve. By choosing Coshocton for this project, you are investing in not only state-of-the-art facilities, but also in our community bringing jobs, skills and economic vitality to our region."

Coshocton County Commissioners Chairman of the Board Dane Shryock, Commissioner Gary Fischer, Commissioner Bob Bigrigg and project coordinator Mary Beck attended the ceremony.

"We appreciate the opportunity to work with these people on this type of project,” Shryock said. “We are sincerely grateful to the Frontier Group for purchasing the property from AEP and recognizing the potential it holds. Their commitment to redeveloping the site brought renewed optimism to the area and this community. Today marks an exciting milestone as we officially announce that Aligned will be building its data centers at this location. This investment brings new hope to our residents, our schools and the entire Coshocton County community. The board of county commissioners welcomes this day.”

Beth Lowrey, president and CEO of Holder Construction, said, "On behalf of Holder Construction, I want to thank Aligned Data Centers for the incredible opportunity to build this transformational project. This is a huge campus, a state-of-the-art data center program that is definitely going to be a huge value in this community when it's done. It is a huge milestone for our company as we continue to build data centers all over the country, but this one is really special based on the advanced technology that Aligned plans to use for this facility.”

At Holder safety is a top priority.

“We are committed to the safety and well-being of every worker,” Lowrey said. “We have an on-sight medic to take care of the workforce, and this project will create jobs in this community. We plan to partner with all of you to make sure that we bring skill training to your local community. We bring awareness, and we love to recruit from local high schools, so there is tremendous opportunity here. We absolutely look forward to being a good partner here. Together we will build something extraordinary here in Conesville, Ohio."

Rob Zuchlewski is chief operating officer for the Frontier Group of Companies at Conesville Industrial Park.

"Our company bought this site in June 2020," Zuchlewski said. "We immediately began the work of remediating environmental concerns and demolishing the 2,300-megawatt power plant. For over 5 1/2 years, they looked at new prospects interested in bringing new life to this section of the property. We are fortunate to have Aligned because of the type of organization they are. They are leaders in their industry. They are smart and talented people. They are good people.”

Zuchlewski thanked the Frontier Group of Companies and thanked Aligned for their commitment in building something so impactful for the area and the state of Ohio.

"Their track record in data processing speaks for itself,” he said. “We sincerely appreciate everything you are doing to make this development a success.”

A digital infrastructure like Aligned has the technology that enables modern businesses to operate, scale and evolve. It includes cloud environments, networking stacks, data storage, API layers, compute resources, intelligent orchestration and clarity with basic structure.

The Industrial Park, formerly the site of the American Electric Power Plant, shut down in May 2020 after 62 years. In a statement from the Coshocton Port Authority, the Brownfield Redevelopment Site is being repurposed to become a modern destination industrial park.