Yahoo Buys Site for Nebraska Data Center

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Yahoo has purchased this building in La Vista, Nebraska for $14.8 million.

Yahoo continues to move forward with plans for a major data center project in Nebraska, even as the company appears to be preparing for cost-cutting that could include employee layoffs. Yahoo paid $14.8 million to purchase a warehouse and headquarters building for Tender Heart Treasures in La Vista, Nebraska, according to property records.  

The property includes a 300,000 square foot existing structure on 24.3 acres of land, with approval to add a 38,000 square foot expansion. The building includes a three-story office area and a warehouse with a 35-foot ceiling. Tender Heart Treasures, which makes gifts and home decor products, will vacate the building in January when it moves to another location, according to the Omaha World-Herald.

In August Yahoo applied for tax incentives under the Nebraska Super Advantage program, which requires a minimum investment of $100 million and the creation of at least 50 high-salary jobs paying a minimum average salary of $68,700. The filing revealed that the project would be in La Vista, a fast-growing Omaha suburb whose corporate residents include HP and eBay’s Paypal unit, which employs about 2,000 workers at a call center not far from the new Yahoo site.

Omaha was recently named one of the most affordable U.S. cities to operate a data center by The Boyd Company, with an annual operating expense of $12.9 million, less than half the cost of operating a similar facility in New York.

Yahoo has been accelerating its data center build-out in recent months, leasing data center space in Santa Clara from Digital Realty Trust (DLR) and speeding deployment of its footprint in a facility in Ashburn, Va. operated by Dupont Fabros (DFT).

But the company is reining in spending in other areas. Yahoo disclosed yesterday that it has hired consulting firm Bain & Co. to help review its expenses and find ways to boost efficiency. The review is widely expected to result in employee layoffs at Yahoo.