ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Drivers along Interstate 4 might have noticed a strange-looking orange building on the side of the highway in recent years.
It stands out from the surrounding area due to its colorful paint and unique architecture. But what is it doing there?
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The construction site can be found in Eatonville along the border to Winter Park, though passersby might notice that the building is nearly complete.
Tarps fencing the property say that the building is the “Future Home of HostDime Flagship Data Center and Corporate HQ.”
HostDime is a Florida-based company that provides data storage to customers, and its CEO — Manny Vivar — told News 6 that the new building is expected to help the company expand its operations after outgrowing its previous center in Orlando.
While the company has built other data centers abroad, this one is supposed to be the main headquarters.
According to Vivar, the building — dubbed “Supernova” — spans 100,000 square feet and seven stories, including a terrace on top.
The first three levels of the building are set to host data servers, and the top four floors will be comprised of office space for the company, Vivar explained.
In addition, HostDime received permission from the county to build a new roadway, which will be made available to the public after its completion.
“We’re paying the cost to build that road, but once it’s completed, we’re going to hand over public use to it to Orange County,” Vivar said. “And then in exchange for that, we got to name the road, so we decided to name the road ‘Innovative Place.’ Our address is going to be: 1 Innovative Place.”
The company decided to build the data center next to the highway to garner more attention — which is the same reason it went with the crazy look.
“We wanted to make sure to build a very iconic design for the facility, and if you look at the building, it’s kind of spaceship-looking,” Vivar said.
Construction on the site has been a challenge, though.
It began before the COVID-19 pandemic, but after lockdowns were introduced, labor shortages and supply chain issues sparked problems for the company.
“The original budget of this facility was about $40 million, and we can see what the final price will be — $58 million — so it’s pretty staggering,” Vivar told News 6.
However, the building is finally near completion. According to Vivar, Supernova is expected to be finished by around June.
After it’s finished, Vivar said he would be interested in hosting school tours on the building’s first floor and tech conferences (up to 300 people) on the top-level terrace.
“We’re doing a lot of little community things like that,” he said. “And I call it, ‘Hospitality means digital infrastructure.’”
The company’s website also says that the facility will feature a game room, fitness gym and two-story “floating” sports court for staff and clients.
Aside from that, Vivar said that Orlando doesn’t have any other data centers, meaning that HostDime offers a unique service within the area.
“A lot of the businesses and people who need to purchase data storage would house it out of the state,” he said. “So I think that’s one of the things we’re very passionate and purposeful about our efforts in serving the market. So we’re excited to bring localization of the public cloud — and through a public data center — to Orlando.”
For more information on HostDime’s services and pricing, click here.
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