The groundbreaking ceremony scheduled for this morning at the QTS data center site in southwest Cedar Rapids was canceled by company leaders in the wake of the deadly shooting at the Blackstone company headquarters building in New York City.
QTS is a Blackstone portfolio company.
A QTS spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday morning that the groundbreaking was canceled “out of respect for the victims, their families, and our colleagues.”
“We care deeply about the communities where we live and work together, and our hearts and prayers are with those impacted,” the statement said.
There was no immediate word as to whether the groundbreaking ceremony will be rescheduled to a future date.
According to reports, the shooting involved Shane Turian, a former football player who left a note blaming the NFL for his CTE brain injury. The building where the shooting occurred is home to NFL headquarters, as well as Blackstone.
The shooter played football in high school, but apparently never played in the NFL, reports indicate.
The shooter took his own life after killing four people and wounding a fifth, reports say. One of the four victims was a Blackstone executive.
The Quality Technology Services (QTS) data center project at the Big Cedar Rapids Industrial Center in southwest Cedar Rapids, when completed, is expected to be the largest economic development project in the city’s history.
In the original announcement of plans for the data center, QTS officials estimated the project would comprise an investment of $750 million. However, according to the announced groundbreaking plans, the project will have an overall investment of $10 billion over the course of the development.
Google is also developing a data center project in the Big Cedar Industrial Center.
