The City of Gilroy is seeking consultants to draft a report that explores the environmental effects of Amazon’s proposed data center in the city.
The city will accept bids until May 2 for Amazon Web Services’ proposed data center campus on Camino Arroyo, just south of the Gilroy Premium Outlets and behind Johnson RV and the Gilroy Unified School District offices.
Amazon purchased the 66 acres of farmland in August 2020. According to a report submitted to the city by Amazon, the project would include two data center buildings, a security building, two battery storage systems and other facilities.
The first phase of the project would construct a single-story, 218,000-square-foot data center building and related facilities. The second phase, which Amazon expects to be constructed four to seven years afterward, would include another single-story data center building measuring in at the same square footage.
“The primary goal of the Gilroy Data Center, as its name implies, is to be a state-of-the-art data center that provides greater than 99.999 percent reliability,” Amazon stated in its report. “The GDC has been designed to reliably meet the increased demand of the digital economy, its customers and the continued growth. The GDC will house key cloud infrastructure that is integral to the economy.”
Amazon launched its data services unit in 2006. The business has posted record profits in recent years as the demand for such services skyrockets. According to the company, Amazon Web Services generated $62 billion in revenue in 2021.
To view the requests for proposals, visit cityofgilroy.org/bids.aspx?bidID=105.
In December 2021, Amazon purchased another 60 acres of farmland just down the road at the corner of Highway 152 and Camino Arroyo, with plans to construct a delivery center and warehouse.
The developer for the project requested a delay in the city council’s consideration, citing a need to reevaluate the proposal.
