Port reverts former Yahoo! data center in Confluence Technology Center to ‘core and shell state’

WENATCHEE — A former data center in the Confluence Technology Center (CTC) was stripped of its generators, chillers and switchgears so the building can go back to its original state by August.

Chelan Douglas Regional Port Authority commissioners surveyed the restoration project’s progress on March 14. Yahoo!’s data center was housed on the entire third floor and half of the lower level of the Confluence Technology Center, 285 Technology Center Way.

“When they (data center tenants) moved out, all of their electrical and mechanical infrastructure remained,” wrote Stacie de Mestre, port public works and capital projects manager, in an email. “The port attempted to find a tenant who would utilize the equipment and infrastructure, but was unsuccessful.”

To restore the building “to a core and shell state,” roughly 2,500 man hours were invested into the project as of March 27, de Mestre wrote. The hours of labor included removing and recycling 260,000 pounds of stripped bare copper wire, removing 150,000 pounds worth of batteries and removing 28 exhaust fans from the CTC roof. According to de Mestre, most of the salvage and demolition work is completed.

“(Big ticket items for the project included) removal of the exterior equipment yard (generators, chillers and cooling towers) and restoring it to parking,” de Mestre wrote. “Removal of all the electrical equipment (switchgear, automatic transfer switches, back up batteries, conduit/copper wire) from the lower level and putting the electrical, fire suppression and fire alarm systems that served the data center back onto the building systems.”

The port’s contract with Absher Construction for the demolition of the data center and restoration work was for roughly $3.7 million.

“However, much of the material and equipment that were removed from the data center had a salvage value,” de Mestre wrote. “For that reason they paid us $1,210,000 at the beginning of the project.”

De Mestre added the restoration work won’t be completed until August due to long lead times on windows. No significant change order or additional costs were accrued during the project as of March 27.