Photos: Meta DeKalb Data Center build continues

DeKALB – An aerial view of the Meta’s DeKalb Data Center site shows the progress of the 500-acre project Tuesday in DeKalb.

Facebook’s parent company, Meta, announced earlier this year that the DeKalb Data Center was expanding into three buildings, bringing with it a community investment that now totals more than $1 billion.

Once work is completed, which is expected in 2023, the almost 2.4 million-square-foot facility in the 1500 block of Gurler Road on the city’s south side will represent an investment with 200 operational jobs, officials said. Construction is expected to employ more than 1,200 workers over the length of the build.

Chicago-based Mortensen construction is taking the lead on the build, which also includes DeKalb-based Curran Contracting Co. Inc.

Meta’s portfolio of social media and digital platforms includes Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp and the virtual reality platform Oculus.

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An aerial view of the Facebook’s DeKalb Data Center site shows the progress of the 500 acre project on Tuesday, July 26, 2022 in DeKalb. Facebook’s parent company, Meta, announced earlier this year that the DeKalb Data Center expanded into three buildings, bringing with it a community investment that now totals more than $1 billion. (Scott Anderson)

By the numbers

As of last week, more than 800,000 pounds of structural steel has been constructed at the site, Meta spokesperson Tom Parnell said, and there is more than 400,000 pounds underway. An additional 1 million pounds of steel still is expected to be shipped to the site.

At the site – which will feature six buildings – buildings No. 3, 5 and 6 have 34,000 lineal feet of concrete curbs inside. That’s almost 6.5 miles of concrete, Parnell said.

When all six buildings are built, crews will have installed 450 million – or about 111,000 cubic yards – of structural steel, 5,312 tons of reinforcement steel, 2,246 anchor bolts for the steel columns and 13,565 anchor bolts for the structural steel.