A rendering shows a data center VCU plans to build on West Broad Street just west of North Belvidere Street. The cost is up 67% since the project was conceived last fall.

The cost to build a new Virginia Commonwealth University data center has risen 67% since the project was conceived last fall, the effect of a miscalculation and significant increases to the cost of construction.

The data center, which will house the servers for the university and its health system, will cost $970 per square foot, up from $580 when the board of visitors first approved the building in October.

VCU now plans to spend $31 million on the facility, which will be funded using university debt.

VCU’s data center is currently in a state facility — the Pocahontas Building adjacent to the Virginia Capitol. Last summer, the state notified VCU that it would have to vacate the premises. The state plans to tear down the Pocahontas Building and replace it with a new home for the Supreme Court of Virginia.

The state didn’t give VCU much time to pack; the university has to be out by December 2023.

“I’ve never done anything in the light speed that we’re expected to do this,” said Rich Sliwoski, associate vice president of facilities management at VCU.

The university decided to build a data center on land it already controls, a small plot on West Broad Street just west of North Belvidere Street. It initially planned to spend $23 million.

But VCU staffers miscalculated the building’s needs, Sliwoski said. Because it will hold extensive computer hardware, the building needs raised floors and a stronger heat and air conditioning system. The servers will be placed on platforms 4 inches above the floor, allowing cords and airflow underneath.

In addition to specification changes, the cost of construction has increased.

Labor shortages, increased demand for construction, COVID-related supply chain delays and a higher cost of materials have driven up the price to erect a building.

The cost to start nonresidential construction shot up 39% in early 2022, compared with a year earlier, according to trade publication Engineering News-Record. The cost of cement rose 7%, structural steel is up 20%, and PVC pipes increased 36%. Some material costs have been affected by the war in Ukraine.

“It’s a little bit of everything,” said Todd Bagwell, a vice president for Hourigan, a Richmond-based construction firm not involved with the VCU data center.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the cost of construction in the Richmond area has increased 25%, Bagwell said. In most years, a 4% increase is common.

A VCU board of visitors committee on Thursday approved the higher cost of the project. The full board will vote on it on Friday.

Eric Kolenich writes about higher education, health systems and more for the Richmond Times-Dispatch. He joined the newspaper in 2009 and spent 11 years in the Sports section. (804) 649-6109

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A rendering shows a data center VCU plans to build on West Broad Street just west of North Belvidere Street. The cost is up 67% since the project was conceived last fall.

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