Austin Real Estate Scene

AUSTIN, HOUSTON (statesman.com, chron.com) – Hewlett-Packard Co. has picked Austin and Houston as two of three massive data center locations, as it consolidates a global network of 85 computer centers into six large centers in three U.S. cities. The centers will store HP's internal information, including e-mails and other computer-generated records. The third location for a pair of data centers will be in Atlanta. HP expects to complete all six data centers in the next three years.

One center will be situated in far East Austin on Ed Bluestein Blvd. and another will be 15 miles away on HP's campus along Burnet Road in the Wells Branch area. In Houston, HP will expand its existing data center operation and build a new facility within 15 miles, near the old Compaq campus.

Each of the data centers will cost about $300 million to build and equip, and HP expects to employ about 140 people at each site. HP said the average Austin salary will be $60,000. When they are up and running, the company expects to save about $1 billion in operating expenses over several years.

Austin and Houston are offering local incentives, and a source close to the negotiations says Gov. Rick Perry’s office is expected to offer up to $5 million in Texas Enterprise Funds. 

The cities were chosen based on a lower probability of impact from natural disasters as compared with other cities under consideration. They also "were selected based on availability and affordability of space, power and network bandwidth," the company said.

http://recenter.tamu.edu/news/recon.html

This represents more positive growth for Austin and will surely impact the real estate market with more homes being built and more sales.