Data Firm Bids $62.7M for State Land in Mesa Article originally posted on HERE on September 5, 2023 The owner of Utah’s largest data center was the sole bidder for 165.3 acres of land near the old GM Proving Grounds in East Mesa last week. Wes Swenson, CEO of Novva Holdings, LLC, bid the minimum $62.7 million price posted by the Arizona Land Department for the giant parcel on the northwest corner of Ellsworth and Warner roads on Aug. 29. Novva boasts on its website of being a provider of sustainable, secure colocation data centers – facilities that rent out rack space to third parties for servers and other computer-related equipment. It claims to own Utah’s largest colocation data center with facilities as well in Colorado and Nevada. Novva is backed by a growth equity investment from CIM Group, a real estate and infrastructure owner, operator, lender and developer. CIM last year invested $355 million in Novva, bringing the total size of its investment up to $550 million, the company reported in June 2022. Novva was founded in 2020 and backed by $100 million in funding from CIM Group to advance a “vision of purpose-built, sustainable data centers to life” It acquired a 40-acre Colorado Springs location in August 2021 and opened its flagship 100-acre West Jordan campus a month later. The Land Department indicated the money from the sale would go toward the Permanent Common Education Fund, the largest of 13 public service beneficiaries identified in the state’s constitution for the proceeds from State Trust Land auctions. State Trust Land is not public land, but was deliberately set aside for sale to benefit public entities ranging from public education to the state Department of Correction. An assessment of the parcel performed for the Land Department by Speedie and Associates noted that the site has been vacant for decades even though it is considered farmland and apparently for some time had been used for grazing by sheep. The assessment quoted Land Department officials as stating that current market values “was not applicable” to the minimum auction price set by the state. The assessment also indicated there was nothing to suggest any contamination of the site by hazardous chemicals even though it is adjacent to the old GM Proving Grounds. It said GM “historically used” chemicals like solvents, gasoline and oil but that 10 drinking wells within a mile of the site have not been adversely affected. GM operated a landfill that was less than two miles from the auction site, the assessment said, and the company excavated approximately 181,000 cubic yards of oil drums, auto parts and other debris from the landfill. “The potential environmental impact from this former solid waste landfill to the (auctioned) property is believed to be low,” Speedie said.