KTIV NewsChannel 4 Sioux City IA: News, Weather and SportsNew project will bring more green to Yankton, SD

New project will bring more green to Yankton, SD

YANKTON, SD (KTIV) -- Amid news of layoffs and cutbacks around the country and right here in Siouxland, there's good economic news for one South Dakota town.

Yankton leaders have announced a project that they're saying will bring more green to town, in more ways than one.

At a time when good economic news is hard to come by, it's only appropriate that this new venture is dubbed "Project MIDY." Mount Marty College, IBM, Dataware Green and the city of Yankton have all partnered to build a data center on the far west side of town.

While the new center is good for the community, it's also better for the earth, with green concepts incorporated into its design.

"The ultimate goal of the facility is to have some type of sustainable energy source developed in the area that will help feed the facility itself, this is a very, very energy intensive facility," said Scott Sandal, co-owner and project manager.

A data center is essentially a "barn" for computers to store a company's information.

While Yankton leaders admit the center will bring just a handful of jobs to town, they're encouraged by the future of the company, and the tax boost it will give the city of about 14,000.

"We hope to grow not only the technology in the IT area but also the technologies in renewable energies down the road and the educational value that this facility will bring to our local college, Mount Marty and RTEC," said Yankton mayor Dan Specht.

Right now, there are four other data centers in South Dakota, with the closest in Sioux Falls.

Officials will break ground next week.