Blakely Rotary Club hosts roundtable on QTS data center

by Mac Gordon, Rotary Report

(L – R) Warren Baxley, Rotary president; Susanne Reynolds, EC Dev. Authority Director; QTS Representatives Jose Burnes, Julie Byrn, Kyle Johnson, Megan Hofmeyer, Cisha Adams, Payton Flood, Karen DiMaggio, David Lawrence, Tiffini Waddell and Victoria Herring; Brianna Hamby and John Engler of McKnight Engler and David River of Palomar Group.

An idea first proposed to community leaders and economic developers in July 2024 moved another step closer to expected reality at a public meeting on Jan. 22 hosted by the Rotary Club of Blakely.

More than 80 people came to hear officials of QTS, a Virginia based developer, tell of plans to build a data center to house/ process digital information on land just east of the Highway 27 bypass.

Susanne Reynolds, executive director of the Early County Development Authority, opened the meeting by remembering the day John Engler of the McKnight Engler firm “walked in our door with this project” and began to talk about such a facility being developed in Blakely and Early County.

“Everything we needed to start this project was already right here,” Engler told those assembled at the Rotary meeting, when asked “Why Blakely?”

“We could think of no better place,” he said.

Another QTS official told the crowd that Blakely had the land, water and access to public power, three of the main ingredients needed for the project.

Company leaders could not yet answer all the questions posed by interested citizens attending the public meeting. QTS couldn’t say when the construction project would start and end; exactly how many full time jobs would eventually be in place but they’re thinking in the range of 100 after construction, with many more indirect jobs to be added; how much in property taxes QTS will pay the county annually; and so forth. Full-time job holders could earn as much as $60,000+ yearly.

QTS is sweet music to a city and county that suffered the loss of more than 550 workers when Georgia-Pacific closed its container board plant in Cedar Springs this past summer.

This project obviously will require hundreds of construction workers who will need housing and food and other necessities of life while in the county. Some construction workers will be needed on site well after the center opens for business.

Data centers typically employ a wide range of workers including project managers, procurement, logistics, security and maintenance-technology personnel. College degrees are not required for most of the jobs, but QTS will provide paid training for people with no prior experience, creating career pathways. As with any industrial startup, QTS will move some management staff members to this area at the outset of operations.

Who are customers of data centers? The answer is anybody and everybody who ever scanned their credit card at a business, a hospital or a government office, or anyone uses apps on a cell phone. QTS people said that the public will never know what customers are housed in their facilities for obvious security reasons.

“There are a lot of people out there with malicious intent. That’s why we never talk about our customers,” one QTS official said.

QTS ranks high in the “co-location industry,” meaning they build digital campuses, which could be several buildings, and lease the space to customers. The company currently has almost 30 “campus” construction jobs going on at the moment.

The officials stressed how the firm works with local institutions like schools and government units to develop relationships locally. Their officials and employees participate in groups like Habitat for Humanity, food pantries, women’s shelters and Girls Clubs.

Wherever they’ve located there’s been concern about water usage. QTS data centers use a “closed loop” cooling system that once operational, consumes only the original water needed. They said it’s hard to predict initial usage but uses no more water than a large restaurant.

The company does not generate electric power onsite and is connected to the local power grid. With a proliferation of data centers in this state, the Georgia Public Service Commission has recently approved increased generation for Georgia Power Co. Generators with high capacity efficiency filters are used for emergency backup power.

“The benefits to a community like this are almost inconceivable,” said one QTS leader.

Published in the Early County News on January 28, 2026.