American Express making plans to hide in plain sight

GREENSBORO

American Express has shrouded its major data-center project in secrecy from the moment that economic developers said in May that Guilford County had landed the $600 million project.

The company has declined requests to comment about the center it plans to build on two sites near Interstate 40 at Rock Creek Dairy Road. Many people working with the company in business or government relationships are not returning calls or taking great pains not to let much information slip out.

The reason becomes clear when you get inside the philosophy of the data industry.

"Do not make public any information about your operations," according to a report by SANS Institute, a data-center security consultant, issued not long after the Sept. 11 attacks.

"This includes but is not limited to location, staff, design or security features, type of equipment, etc. The smallest pieces of information can be used to compromise security."

American Express has every reason to guard its data. The information that flows through those computers is the lifeblood of a company that owes its existence to financial security for cardholders.

For all its secrecy, however, American Express is building its data center in a remarkably public place: Rock Creek Center, the Triad's largest business park with 1,400 acres.

The park is just south of Interstate 40/85, one of the state's busiest sections of road. The data center will sit south of Franz Warner Parkway, which runs through the park, and just north of a housing development with 375 lots.

The company plans to hide in plain sight.

Data center experts say it's what you do within the boundaries of your property that counts.

American Express filed a site plan with the Guilford County Department of Planning and Development recently that shows how it will position its building on the 137 acres it bought in late August.

The department's Technical Review Committee plans to discuss the site plan at its regular meeting today.

The site plan, prepared by Stimmel Associates, doesn't use the name American Express. It calls the site "Project Green," but it's full of information previously unknown about the project.

The building will cover 510,000 square feet, not the 350,000 square feet initially reported. And the plan shows room for expansion of up to 240,000 square feet.

The rectangular building will face south toward a gravel section of McCon­nell Road, which brings further contrast to the high-tech data center's rural surroundings. The area is scheduled to be paved.

Most buildings at Rock Creek are visible on sites close to inner roads or Interstate 40. The new Precor exercise equipment building, for example, practically looks like an architectural billboard for the company.

American Express' project, on the other hand, will be well-buffered, according to those who worked on the deal.

Although it bought 138.2 acres straddling McConnell Road, the company will build on only 28 acres.

It will leave most of the existing trees on the heavily forested land untouched, according to the site-plan map.

The building will back up to steel high-tension power lines that run through the property, which would likely be shrouded by trees on the Franz Warner Parkway side.

After it builds its data center and two large power substations, American Express will leave 75 percent of its land essentially vacant.

The company also bought 30 acres to the south from a subsidiary of BB&T that was part of The Reserve at Rock Creek housing development.

That part of The Reserve wasn't developed before BB&T received it in foreclosure from Portrait Homes, said T. Shane Shuler, a commercial real-estate development officer for BB&T.

Shuler said that American Express told him it was buying the land as buffer so its traffic would not bother residents. But Shuler made it clear that the company would have to work with homeowners if it plans to build on the heavily wooded land.

"I put restrictions in place that American Express had limited use of that property," Shuler said. "They can't put a building there."

American Express paid $450,000 for that site and $5.62 million for the 107.8 acres it bought in Rock Creek Center.