NEW ALBANY, Ohio (WCMH) — The city of New Albany announced Thursday the first big project in the New Albany Tech Park, an in-progress commercial development project located just south of where Intel is presently building a massive fabrication facility.

VanTrust Real Estate, which is leading the New Albany Tech Park, agreed to a deal to build a 1.2 million square foot warehouse for Denmark-based DSV, the city wrote on its website. DSV is a global transportation and logistics firm that, in part, provides a number of services to “semiconductor customers.”

“On our visits to New Albany, we were extremely impressed with the investments in infrastructure the city has made, and its support of the fast-growing semiconductor industry in the area,” DSV North America Solutions President Mike Marlow said in the release.

Its eventual warehouse in New Albany will be the “largest industrial building” in the city, according to the release.

VanTrust announced its plans for the tech park, housed on 500 acres within the larger New Albany International Business Park, in June 2022. Construction on Intel’s site in New Albany quietly kicked off a month later.

New Albany Co. President and CEO Bill Ebbing said the tech park is vital for the “myriad of businesses that want to be a part of the growing Silicon Heartland.”

Since last summer, numerous other technology companies or those affiliated with the industry have purchased parcels of land in and around the larger business park. 

Microsoft bought a substantial swath of land along the western border of Licking County in May for $56.98 million, according to county auditor’s records. The 184 acres of land was located directly south and west of nearly 400 acres bought by Amazon Data Services in January for $116 million. 

The Amazon land will likely become a large data center, based on wetland permit applications associated with the same parcels.

Construction on DSV’s warehouse — being led by general contractor Pepper Construction — is set to start in August and finish in less than a year and a half, likely in December 2024, according to the city.