At the end of March the local subsidiary of DC Blox, a data center company based in Atlanta, asked Flagler Beach for permission to have two landing spots for undersea cables in the city. The company is planning a still-secret data center in Palm Coast’s Town Center.
One of the landing spots would be the right of way along 11 th Street, with groundings on the property of Santa Maria del Mar Catholic Church’s parking lot. The city commission had no objection. The other was to be on a city-owned seaside parking lot on State Road A1A at South 6th Street. The city objected, as the landing infrastructure, however small, could foreclose on the city’s use of that lot for something other than a parking lot in the future. (See: “Company Planning Huge Data Center in Palm Coast for Undersea Internet Cables, But Flagler Beach Trips Over Easements.”)
The city is also hesitant about the paltry, one-time sum the company was willing to pay for each cable landing: $100,000. The company plans up to four cables at each of the two locations.
The 6th Street proposal died. As an alternative, the company–its Florida subsidiary is called DC Orchid–is now proposing to run its landing site through the north side of Veterans Park in the heart of the city, limit the footprint of the infrastructure both in its permanent state and during construction, every time a cable is added, and lift the $100,000 cap on what the company was willing to pay.
The proposal was to go before the Flagler Beach City Commission Thursday evening. DC Blox asked for the item to be pulled so as not to risk it being again shot down as the city continues to do its due diligence on the matter, Commission Chairman Scott Spradley said. But the city may eventually be more receptive to that proposal.
DC Blox held closed-door meetings with the commissioners individually after the initial presentation before the commission did not go well. Palm Coast and county officials have also been pressuring some Flagler Beach officials to go along. The DC Blox/Orchid project would bring a handful of jobs to Town Center through the data center.
Palm Coast and the county are being secretive about it because the company will be seeking tax incentives under a legal provision that allows local governments and private companies to keep their dealings secret for 12 to 24 months, despite the tax dollars involved. The company doesn’t have to keep its dealings secret. But once it invokes secrecy under the law’s provision, the local governments are enjoined from discussing anything about it.
Flagler Beach is not part of that incentive package. DC Blox is negotiating with the city separately, and openly. But the landing spots along the shore are essential if the data center in Palm Coast is to function.
Still, the secrecy on the city’s and county’s part is ironic–and hypocritical, if the company’s own words are to be taken at face value: “Transparent communication is vital,” the company wrote in its memo to Flagler Beach officials. “DC BLOX will keep the City Council and appropriate city staff informed throughout the project, addressing any concerns.” The company has lived up to that only as far as Flagler Beach officials are concerned, at times inaccurately telling elected officials that they could not share the documents they were receiving from the company (if commissioners complied, they’d be violating the open-record law) and misusing the word “appropriate,” as if to suggest that the public should be excluded from that transparency.
Meanwhile, the Palm Coast City Council has yet to openly acknowledge, let alone discuss, the existence of the project, its impact on the city, or what taxpayers will be asked to pay as their share of “incentives.”
DC Blox paid $3.5 million for a 34-acre parcel in Town Center, on the west side of Town Center Boulevard, to build its data center. That center will “not only serve as a landing site for subsea cables,” DC Blox wrote city commissioners in March, in a memo, “but also house a secure, open-access data center. This facility will attract various telecommunications companies and internet service providers, fostering a competitive marketplace for high-speed connectivity.” The project is expected to create “a small number of high-paying jobs, attract new businesses, and help diversify the local economy.”
“My understanding is it would be a footprint not much more than a manhole cover in an obscure part of the park, so that wouldn’t be an issue,” Spradley said. But the construction timeline is an issue, as it could interfere with events at the park and with other major construction projects in the city, one of which–the rebuilding of beaches and dunes from North 7th Street to the northern border of Gamble Rogers State Recreation Area–is to use Veterans Park as a staging ground for a few months starting in a matter of weeks. But the company is pledging not to start construction on the Veterans Park vault until the beach renourishment is completed. That means not before March 2025.
Undersea data cables are the backbone of the internet. It’s a multi-billion dollar industry. Companies like DC Blox don’t own or operate the cables. Companies like Amazon, Google and Meta, the owner of Facebook, do. They lay them down, repair them when they break, and pay for their upkeep. But the cables have to land somewhere and be routed. That’s where DC Blox comes in. Each subsea cable is routed into a beach manhole, or a concrete vault underground that serves as the gathering point for the disparate cables. That’s the vault DC Blox wants to build in Veterans Park, though every time a new cable is added, it would require additional construction lasting two to four weeks.
Initial construction would take nine to 12 months. That length worries city officials.
The cabling system is then to be connected to the data center in Town Center, going underground along State Road 100, Old Kings Road, I-05 and other rights of way, as well as following the Leheigh Trail.
According to renderings the company submitted to the city, the Veterans Park plan would have the four undersea cables landing beneath the beach along the north edge of the park, along State Road 100. The northern third of the park would be closed for construction. Visible infrastructure would all be at the northwestern corner of the park and the sidewalk, along the parking area and South Central Avenue, with an electric box rising just inside the park’s perimeter. The permanent easement would encompass roughly a quarter of the park.
It’s not a minor ask, which is why the city balked when the company offered the $100,000 per cable, and nothing after that. “That was their offer. It has not been accepted yet,” Spradley, a lawyer, said. He took the offer as just that: as the beginning of a negotiation. “There’s different ways to do a deal,” he said, noting that City Manager Dale Martin was doing just that at the moment, along with other due diligence aspects of the proposal. The city, he said, could ask for a lease arrangement with recurring payments, it could ask for a higher one-time payment, or it could ask for other compensation methods.
It isn’t clear, for example, why the city is not asking for the same arrangement that attaches to cell towers on public property: the local government gets a share of each carrier’s lease payments to the tower company. The companies that own the undersea cables are paying DC Blox for its service. The city could similarly require that a percentage share of that be the city’s.
Given the company’s commitment to the Palm Coast data center location and the expected taxpayer subsidies it will receive at that end, Flagler Beach should be in a strong position to be neither servile nor to give the impression that its sandals are all hayseed.
Keep Flagler Beautiful says
If I had a house anywhere near there, I would be greatly concerned. The digging could cause an implosion, which could weaken the fragile rockbed that some lagoon houses are built on. They need Flagler Beach a lot more than Flagler Beach needs them. If it goes through, the price should be 10 times the amount they’re offering and they should have to post a surety bond to pay for any future damage to the land, houses, topography, or water quality, for starters.
HayRide says
You think laying cables will do more damage compared to Margherita construction well OK I can see how mis-informed in life you are, keep up the good work
The dude says
Clearly they got the memo that Flagler County is like the wild west when it comes to real estate, and that every politician in the county literally has a “For Sale to the highest bidder” sign tattooed on their arse.
On the otherhand, due to climate change, best case scenario Flagler Beach will be just a seawall to the east of A1A holding the Atlantic Ocean back in ten years, so there will no beach to speak of. So the city probably needs to cut this deal since tourism will no doubt be adversely affected. They need to negotiate the best deal they can today, while they have that leverage.
Vince says
Yeah that tattoo is on the forehead not their behind!
Pogo says
@Google, it’s a thing
As stated
https://www.google.com/search?q=DC+Blox+a+data+center+tax+incentives
As stated
https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/
Joe D says
I PERSONALLY would like to see an INITIAL payment with a continuing payment based off a percentage of the data cable profits. Although I would insist as a Flagler Beach homeowner and Taxpayer that there be an annual (or similarly scheduled) outside independent financial audit.
The BIG concern I would have is that the books from the Data company could be MANIPULATED to appear that the company’s profits are less than they really were. Giving the City of Flagler Beach less as a percentage than they are due.
There is a FAVORITE trick some private equity investment firms use to make it LOOK like the company isn’t making a high profit level (ie: hospitals, nursing homes, etc).
The investment firm BUYS the nursing home, then they “technically” sell off the land under the nursing home to another company (ALSO owned by the SAMY private investors under a DIFFERENT company name). Then they charge an INSANELY Large “RENT” to the nursing home, dropping the “official” profit of the nursing home down to minimal profits. Those same owners, then say they “can’t afford” to give employees raises or expanded benefits, because their profits are so LOW (artificially, because of the EXTREME rents siphoned out of the profits….still paid to the SAME people under DIFFERENT NAMES). This is happening all over the country, when hospitals are sold to private equity groups ( whose ONLY goal is to maximize PROFITS for their investors, with little concern about patients or quality of care), then the hospital (or nursing homes) go bankrupt due to these book keeping “adjustments.” The original investors just walk away with maximum profit!
I’m glad there was CAUTION on the part of the Flagler Beach Commission to table the PRIOR vote, in order to get more DETAILED information about the project and it FUTURE ramifications for the City, since the “handful” of new jobs it will bring to PALM COAST doesn’t justify Flagler Beach giving away the “keys to the City.”
I’m confident our Commission and involved City Officials will work out the best deal for both the City and DC Orchid.
The Villa Beach Walker says
The way that these cables work is that they are used by the company that owns the cable to move data over that company’s networks. If you look at other hyperscale undersea cable they are owned by companies like Google and Meta (Facebook). DC Blox is a company that builds high capacity data centers for companies and governments that operate networks. They have a large presence (and landing site) in Myrtle Beach.
Those companies don’t record the ‘profit’ on a cable. They invest in that cable to be able to move data across networks. If you have Internet service in your home you don’t pay a bill based on the amount of data you used (moved in and out of your home). You pay based on the service level agreement that you’ll be able to reach the Internet at defined data transfer rates. If there is a problem with a cable Internet going to your home and it happens outside of your house; your Internet service provider pays to fix that and bears the costs (and spreads those costs out over all of their customers bills).
Greg says
Squeeze too hard and you might get nothing. It’s always great to be a great neighbor to Palm Coast. Laugh my ass off
The Villa Beach Walker says
Regarding the question: “It isn’t clear, for example, why the city is not asking for the same arrangement that attaches to cell towers on public property: the local government gets a share of each carrier’s lease payments to the tower company. “.
The ‘lifetime’ of a cell tower is 10 to 30 years with regular maintenance. There is an initial cost to erect the tower and then recurring costs to add and maintain antennas, and to maintain the tower itself. Cellular providers lease space for their antennas or lease the use of others antennas. The lifetime of an undersea cable is a minimum of 25 years with no maintenance. The cables are owned by large service providers (Google, Meta, others) or telecommunications companies. What causes the ‘death’ (decommissioning) of an undersea cable is advanced technology in the way of faster cables that can move more data.
Something for the city to consider is how to get paid over time as new cables are added to the landing site. Other DC Blox landing sites can host up to 5 hyperscale undersea cables. Since landing a cable might impact the beachfront it might be valuable to have the provider pay into a fund to help pay for future beach re-nourishment or other beachside projects.
Kath says
Unreal are you f kidding me !!! You are destroying Flagler Beach! No one will be able to uses this park ever again. Nor will they want to when they find out what a target is under it. Palm coast wants it so bad, put it up in the hammocks. And every new cable, park would be shut down & dugup .. for 3to 4 weeks. And park would be shut down in the beginning for 9 to 12 months! Answer me this if it becomes a target & it is or it would not have been kept a secret . So here is the question (what happens when are government says we have to lock down park national security) and they shut down a mile or 2 in each direction, up and down the coast 🤔!!! No one will want to live anywhere near it. How’s that 100,000. A cable know. Question can we sue our. Officials when we lose our property value . When we are not allowed to enjoy are Beach . And what about our new pier . Should we waste money on it if we are unable to use it. All of this for what 10 jobs ? And jobs would be in palm coast hub. I think this should be voted on by all of flagler county. After all you are putting Target on all of there backs !
The Villa Beach Walker says
What would be built under the park in Flagler Beach is the cable shore landing. That’s a big concrete vault that is put underground and accessed via climbing down a ladder at manhole. The undersea cables would run to the vault from the ocean. The company would then run underground cables along SR 100 to Town Center. There are many underground cables (and water and gas lines) running along 100 to Flagler Beach already. The jobs DC Blox are talking about creating would be at a facility in Town Center. Not at the manhole cover in Flagler Beach.
Companies that do business over the Internet (Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Target, Walmart) do look for high speed, high volume Internet connections for their data centers. This would put such a connection point in Town Center.
These fiber optic cables are often owned by publicly traded companies like Google, Meta, and Microsoft. Unless someone declares war on Amazon I think Flagler Beach will be OK.
If you look at the DC Blox website you may notice that they have plans posted through 2026. Chances are if this would happen it would happen in 3-5 years.
The dude says
“Companies that do business over the Internet (Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Target, Walmart) do look for high speed, high volume Internet connections for their data centers. This would put such a connection point in Town Center.”
They also look for a skilled workforce and infrastructure that can support those data centers… neither of which Palm Coast (or Flagler Beach) has, and has shown no interest in having.
The Villa Beach Walker says
Regarding that workforce I’d suggest you look again. If you go north there are several colleges producing graduates with technical degrees in Florida State and the University of North Florida. If you go west there is the University of Central Florida and Stetson in Deland which produce many graduates with tech degrees. To the south there is Daytona State, Florida Institute of Technology and USF.
There is also a shift in Internet technology jobs from applicants required to have 4 year degree to more skill based, 2 year and certificate programs. This is often attributed to the pace of technical innovation. It’s hard to advance in Information technology today unless you always learning.
An important community that relies on the use of hyperscale Internet technology like this is medical research. Medical researchers with specialized equipment and large (huge) data sets share their data and resources via the Internet worldwide.
HayRide says
Did you notice the people in fear are the ones that have idea idea or practical experience about what they’re talking about.
jake says
Still a bad idea.
Kath says
And one more thing why has palm coast sealed their records. Why not bring them out and show palm coast people, Flagler, and the whole county what they are up to ??? Oh that’s right , no one needs to know what they’re up to. ..Flagler we are jus/ttt putting in some cables….wake up … And has our police even seen what they are going to have to protect. .. police are going to need more officers & money 💰 to protect (???)
Mark says
“Who are DC BLOX ‘s competitors? Alternatives and possible competitors to DC BLOX may include US Mobile , Eco-Site , and Cumulus Digital Systems .”
First thing I found on-line. Would be interesting how the other competitor companies work with towns and what other competitor companies have paid for the same landing and vault.
“DC BLOX wrote,”This facility will attract various telecommunications companies and internet service providers, fostering a competitive marketplace for high-speed connectivity.” The project is expected to create “a small number of high-paying jobs, attract new businesses, and help diversify the local economy.”
Don’t fool yourself into thinking this is magically going to bring in hundreds or thousands of jobs that will pay good and be long term. You will have the construction crews come in then leave after which a hand full of employees “may run” the data center. The prospect of it attracting new business’ is slim, wouldn’t bet that companies such as Google or Facebook would rush to set up shop because they haven’t at other locations.
The Villa Beach Walker says
“Who are DC BLOX ‘s competitors? Alternatives and possible competitors to DC BLOX may include US Mobile , Eco-Site , and Cumulus Digital Systems .”.
US Mobile is a cellular company that builds and leases space on towers.
Eco-Site ‘exclusively leases properties owned by Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. to telecommunication companies’. That means they offer space on Walmart building and grounds for antennas.
Cumulus Digital Systems makes the equipment used to build and maintain cables and cable vaults.
There are not many competitors in the undersea cable project market. I don’t think Flagler Beach or Flagler County sought this project out. I think that DC Blox found us.
Celia Pugliese says
I do not believe they “found us” but the PC city chief of staff also lobbyist in Tallahassee is searching for this type of wrong economic development to create high paid jobs for newcomers on on tax incentives paid by us, same way he “found Wawa” in the wrong location in super busy and prone to accidents and gridlock Palm Coast Parkway next to two more gas stations in the same block… This are the brainstormers destroying the Palm Coast that had us move here. If what I suspect is incorrect show us proof.
Mark says
“Alternatives and possible competitors to DC BLOX may include US Mobile , Eco-Site , and Cumulus Digital Systems .””
Thank you for the input Villa. The above was from the article and I was not going to investigate each company as to their plans for future development along the lines of DC BLOX, which it says “may include”. If you do have more insight on the three individual companies and what their plans may be please share with Flagler Beach so they may be in a better position to negotiate, in the sunshine of course.
Land of no turn signals says says
This fish smells from the head to the tail.Tax incentives very rarely work remember Palm Coast Data? I’m never sure they ever paid up.$100k per hook up and 50k a month for each usage fee.
Deborah Coffey says
Just say “NO!!!!” Do you like your air-conditioning and Internet? How good is the water situation in Palm Coast.
What are some negative impacts of data centers?
5 ways data centers affect the environment
Energy usage. Data centers consume vast amounts of energy and electricity to power everything from servers, storage and networking equipment to the infrastructure that’s supporting these devices. …
Water consumption. …
Electronic and toxic waste. …
Land use. …
Greenhouse gas emissions. (techtarget.com
Billy says
Flagler beach has the leverage! 2 million a cable would sound more realistic!
Kath says
This has not one thing to do with Amazon, Google, walmart, or target, everything is done by satellite. This is why ever 2 days your blowing wholes in the atmosphere. So much for global warming. First article said Government spie under sea cables. Documents where sealed . (Orchid project sealed. ) if it’s nothing why so pissed off that got out to
the media. They won’t even let flagler look at palm coast Documents. Deep sea cables submarines go after! Russia goes up and down the coast looking for these cables. Stop b.s. the people
Celia Pugliese says
I totally agree with Deborah! Again we see the destruction attracted here by DeLorenzo secrecy once more .(WaWa in PC Pkwy) Currently the city utility announcing that discoloration yellowish and I add also low pressure in our water is given higher consumption (growth) and lack for rain. Then when a departmental head of the utility warn us about what could happen to our utility if does not have the funds to sustain growth, then he is forced to step down for not keeping silent like happened with expert Mr. Flanagan. All the disastrous issues imposed to Palmcoasters in the last ten years are the mastermind of the same person lobbyist for developers. Now heading to Flagler Beach ocean front. Meanwhile the approval for razing land and new suvdivisions kee[ being approved other than a moratorium in place as wanted by Councilwoman Pontieri.
cpp says
Since the area doesn’t want it here. Note to DC Blox just find another coastal city between your other cable landing locations in Florida and Virginia Beach and pick one. Or just add another landing station in Myrtle Beach where you just added a facility last Oct.. These people in Flagler County don’t want you here. So take any tax dollars you were thinking of paying to the county and city and go somewhere else a little more progressive.
jeffery cortland seib says
Why was this project kept totally under wraps until the 11th hour? All the people of Flagler Beach, Palm Coast, and everyone in between are not a bunch of dummies, in spite of the way we are usually treated by our local, state, and federal office holders. After construction, the data center in Town Center will have a skeleton crew of human beings, mostly run by AI. This is no great job or revenue generator for us. From a health and environmental standpoint, I am very leery of this entire plan. Maybe it should go somewhere else. We have got know these deals before it’s a done deal.
Flatsflyer says
Will they be paying county and city taxes like I do. Why is there a stipulation that prevents law suits. How can a private company meet with individual elected officials? Why won’t they provide monthly payments to the city based on data transfer or usage. The entire thing stinks to high heaven and I think the potential for under the table dealing and bribes is on a level we have never experienced.
Citizen says
Wake-up citizens of Flagler Beach!
Isn’t it interesting that a parcel of land was purchased for 3 1/2 million dollars before this company had any place on the coast to land? Flagler Beach seems to have a recurring problem with issues like this: Margaritaville hotel violates the city’s 35 foot height restrictions? WHAT?!? We’ll have an engineer go over and measure that. There’s a walkover being built for that hotel that was promised not to be built? Well, that was the EPA. Not us! To that I say “The EPA may allow it, but you don’t have to.
To quote an article from this publication on April 24, 2024 “Locals are the majority users of Flagler County’s amenities, not visitors.” Perhaps our local governments should be more concerned about the citizens and less so about visitors. I’d love to return to Flagler Beach just once and see signs that say “welcome back citizens “ after I’ve been motivated to leave during Bike Week and other events due to noise levels (that also violate local code). C’mon, Flagler! Give your citizens some love!
Ralph Chianelli says
This may have already been discussed, or even done, but has anyone visited and spoken to any of the other towns that have made similar deals with cable companies?
We may talk about everything we can think of but be overlooking something others have experienced and could (possibly) be a deal breaker or at least ‘deal changer’.
Once done, we will live with the results for a very long time.
FlaglerLive says
The Flagler Beach City Manager has done that research and hired a consultant to pursue it, with Boca Raton’s experience among those informing Flagler Beach’s approach.
exasperated says
My memory my be faulty but when a prior owner of the hotel site gave the City the property Veterans Park is on they stipulated nothing could be built that blocked the view. I’m wondering if there were other stipulations and what would be the result if they’re violated.
Manette Upson Metcalf says
Yes, there are.
“To be used by said town for and as a public park and pleasure ground and for the purpose of amusement and recreation…”. Excerpt from the deed filed and recorded March 4, 1940 whereby DF Fuquay and his family deeded the land to the Town of Flagler now known as Veterans Park. I contacted the city and told them I felt the closure of the park, and use as a staging area was illegal, and a violation of the deed restriction. I was assured by the city that the use and closure of Veterans Park as a staging area for beach reconstruction would not set a precedent for future closures. It appears that at the same time they were assuring me this was a one time occurrence, the city was considering granting a permanent easement of nearly 1/4th of the park to DCB Orchid, LLC and allowing them to close a major portion of the park for another 9-12 months.
LJ says
This “small number of high-paying jobs,” will most likely be current employees who relocate
The carrot is the hope that this data center will “attract new businesses, and help diversify the local economy”
The sham is that a private industry is in need of access to the ocean and is unwilling to
A ) buy their own land for the facility
B) pay fair market price for a lease.
Public utilities are granted access to easements… Like sewer and water.
Flagler commission should not confuse private with public.
D C blox/orchid should have sorted this out before hopping into the marriage bed with Palm Coast.
Palm Coast should explore access through the Hammock.
I will be watching .
FlaglerNative says
The Veterans Park property was donated to the city.
Originally the entrance to the Flagler Hotel.
This property was never ever intended to be used for something like this. The city doesn’t even own the air rights to the property. Which they have disputed, and lost.
This is a disgrace to the entire community.
Manette Upson Metcalf says
I agree. When I think of Veterans Park, I think of special community gatherings and wonderful memories. Granting an easement of almost 1/4th of the park is giving away the public’s rights to a portion of public property to a private for profit company. Veteran’s Park is priceless.