Iron Mountain

Challenge

The Greater Richmond Partnership (GRP) regularly performs in- and out-bound marketing missions to generate new project leads for the region. In preparing for a mission in January 2023 to Phoenix, Arizona, GRP secured a meeting with a site location professional for Iron Mountain, a global leader in information management systems. Upon contact, Iron Mountain expressed interest in expansion opportunities.

Partners

GRP worked with its local partners at the Henrico Economic Development Authority (EDA) and its state partners at the Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP) as well as Dominion Energy.

GRP’s role

After generating new leads and project parameters, GRP shares opportunities with all four of its local partners. In February 2023, GRP completed a Request for Information along with its local partners submitting site options. The client was interested in Henrico County’s White Oak Technology Park for its land availability and utility access. GRP coordinated a virtual site visit for client representatives to meet and learn about successful data center trends from the Henrico County EDA team. The region also learned of Iron Mountain’s mission alignment for carbon neutrality. GRP organized additional virtual and in-person meetings to discuss site specifics and connect the company with representatives from Dominion Energy.

Solution

In February 2025, Iron Mountain announced plans for a major data center campus in Henrico County’s White Oak Technology Park.

“At Iron Mountain, we are committed to delivering exceptional solutions for our customers, developing working environments for our teams that enable them to thrive, and making a positive contribution to the communities where we operate. We believe that the Commonwealth of Virginia and specifically Henrico County is the right place for us to achieve these goals, which support our commitment to investing in high-growth data center markets to drive our expansion strategy.” — Mark Kidd, Executive Vice President & General Manager, Asset Lifecycle Management and Data Centers, Iron Mountain

Results

Iron Mountain’s investment accounts for 66 acres of new development.

Henrico County recently launched the Henrico Affordable Housing Trust Fund program which allocates data center tax revenue toward increasing local opportunities for affordable homeownership. Iron Mountain’s capital investment will bolster the new trust fund and enhance residents’ quality of life.

“Iron Mountain was approached by the Greater Richmond Partnership nearly two years ago and joins Meta, QTS, Chirisa and Pixel Factory as operations which tap into four high-speed subsea fiber cables that span four continents.” — Jennifer Wakefield, GRP President + CEO

Next steps

Iron Mountain will complete its new build in various phases. The company’s investment in a new data center campus in Greater Richmond proves the region’s ability to serve as a hub for global IT operations.

GRP offers many services including: (1) confidential project management assistance; (2) site selection assistance; (3) in-depth market data; (4) financial and entrepreneurial resources; (5) private sector, local- and state-level connections and; (6) workforce recruitment and training. Let us know how we can help your company.