US operator Vantage is set to develop a new data center campus outside Columbus, Ohio.

Meanwhile, EdgeConneX has acquired a warehouse and land outside Columbus close to where it plans to deploy a natural gas power plant.

Vantage comes to Ohio, again

As reported by the Newark Advocate and the Columbus Dispatch, the Fairfield County commissioners this month passed legislation to annex 500 acres from Walnut Township to the village of Millersport for a planned data center development.

Millersport is located some 28 miles west of Columbus and southwest of the area’s main data center hub of New Albany.

The campus will be built near the intersection of State Route 204 and State Route 37.

Further details on the number and specification of planned data centers on the site weren’t shared. A post on a Millersport community Facebook group, which includes what looks like a site plan, suggests up to five single-story buildings, ranging from 120MW to around 250MW each, for a total of around 800MW.

Fairfield County economic development director Rick Szabrak told the Dispatch that Vantage Data Centers is behind the development.

Construction is expected to start before the end of the year, with the first building due to go live in 2027.

"They've been very aggressive with their timeline," Szabrak said. "This is going to be huge for the village."

Vantage did not reply to the Dispatch’s request for comment.

The campus will reportedly feature a large amount of on-site, behind-the-meter, power generation, but details are unclear. Szabrak told 10TV the data center might rely entirely on on-site power.

Vantage has one data center campus around Columbus in development.

Situated on 70 acres outside Columbus in Licking County's New Albany, OH1 will provide a total of 192MW of IT capacity across more than 1.5 million sq ft (139,355 sqm). The company broke ground on the site last year; the first of three buildings slated to open in late 2025.

EdgeConnex buys warehouse and land outside Columbus

Another US data center operator, EdgeConneX, recently expanded its landholdings around Columbus, building an industrial building and its surrounding land.

BizJournal reports the company recently spent $137.2 million acquiring nearly 270 acres across several sites in Licking County.

The company bought 9850 Innovation Campus Way from VanTrust Real Estate. The company also acquired land on the adjacent Clover Valley Road NW, Mink Street NW, and Jug Street Road NW. The acquired plots straddle New Albany and Johnstown.

VanTrust Real Estate confirmed to the publication that it had sold the sites on Innovation Campus Way, Clover Valley Road, and Mink Street, but provided no further comment. The seller of the Jug Street Road site was Nine Properties Ltd.

VanTrust broke ground on the 524,525 sq ft (48,729 sqm) spec building at 9850 Innovation Campus Way in the New Albany International Business Park in 2022. The company had been marketing the warehouse building as New Albany 525 and it is now listed as sold on its website.

EdgeConneX doesn’t currently operate any facilities in Ohio, but news that the company was planning a data center in the area surfaced earlier this year.

In February, the company filed to deploy a 120MW natural gas plant in New Albany, Licking County, to power a data center development on the same site – likely the recently acquired building.

Via its PowerConneX affiliate, the company is seeking state permits to construct a power plant on 48.6 acres northwest of Ohio 161 and Mink Street in the New Albany International Business Park. Construction is anticipated to begin as early as Q4 2025, going live as early as Q1 2026.

VanTrust Real Estate has previously leased an industrial property in Kansas City, Kansas, to QTS for a data center.