BlackRock’s 2012 move to East Wenatchee, Washington, traded proximity to Wall Street for cheaper hydroelectric power, a cool climate and room to consolidate. The roughly 2,750-mile distance came with a meaningful constraint: the site was unsuitable for the firm’s high-frequency trading workloads. The case is a historical example of how infrastructure costs and network latency can pull a financial company in opposite directions—not evidence that the same arrangement or savings exist today.
Why did BlackRock put a data center in East Wenatchee?
In a June 6, 2012 report, Data Center Knowledge described BlackRock’s facility at Sabey’s Intergate.Columbia campus in East Wenatchee, about 2,750 miles from Wall Street. The report framed the site as part of a broader consolidation: BlackRock had reduced its global data center count from 32 to 12 while operating about 5.9 megawatts of IT capacity.
The location’s appeal was economic and operational. The report said hydroelectric power was available for as little as 2 cents per kilowatt-hour, and the region’s cool climate allowed the facility to use outside air for “free cooling” rather than relying solely on chilled water. These are figures and conditions reported in 2012, not current utility prices or a present-day description of the campus.
What did the move save, according to the 2012 report?
Joshua Vallario, identified in the report as BlackRock’s Director of Global Data Center Operations, said the facility’s power and efficient design produced about $3.5 million in annual savings compared with BlackRock’s second-most affordable site for the same server capacity. He also reported a power usage effectiveness (PUE) range of 1.13–1.21 at partial load. PUE compares total facility energy use with the energy used by IT equipment; these reported figures were not presented as an independent audit.
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The savings estimate was specific to the company’s comparison and the conditions described in 2012. The report does not establish that the power price, PUE, or savings remain available today.
How did the campus support consolidation and growth?
The report described Intergate.Columbia as a 438,000-square-foot campus with single- and multi-tenant facilities. BlackRock’s space was physically separated from other tenants. Its data center opened in January 2011 after five months of construction.
The campus was organized into six pods, each supporting 1.6 megawatts of IT capacity, according to the 2012 account. BlackRock leased two pods: one was complete, while the second was planned for use as capacity needs grew. The report also described hot-aisle containment and rooftop indirect evaporative cooling. Those units could draw warm air from the hot aisle when outdoor conditions became too cold.
BlackRock was consolidating while its infrastructure needs were growing. Vallario said the company had migrated 3 megawatts of IT load around the globe without downtime. The report attributed the work to a wider infrastructure effort, but does not provide enough detail to treat that migration as a repeatable timeline or guarantee for other companies.
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What was the trade-off of moving so far from New York?
Distance brings network latency, the delay as data travels between systems. Vallario said the New York–East Wenatchee latency made the site impractical for high-frequency trading. That is a workload-specific limitation: the report does not say that all financial services or applications were unsuitable for the location.
For a company choosing where to place computing, the relevant question is not simply whether electricity is cheaper. It is whether the cost advantage outweighs the performance requirements of each workload. Applications that need very fast responses to nearby markets may be poor candidates for a remote site, while other systems may tolerate greater network delay. The 2012 report illustrates that distinction but does not quantify latency or compare current sites.
How did BlackRock manage the facility remotely?
The report described proprietary management software and a remote operating model that could require as few as six full-time staffers. It also quoted Vallario saying BlackRock was highly attentive to control of its data centers. These details point to the operational side of the location decision: cheaper power and cooling only help if a company can monitor and manage the site to its requirements.
The account does not establish how many staff were present at all times, what work was outsourced, or whether the same staffing arrangement continued after 2012.
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What this historical case does—and does not—show
BlackRock’s reported decision makes the underlying trade-off clear: East Wenatchee offered low-cost hydroelectricity, favorable cooling conditions, and space for consolidation and expansion, while distance limited latency-sensitive trading. The numbers belong to the 2012 report and should be read as attributed company figures, not current benchmarks.
The report does not establish whether BlackRock still operates at Intergate.Columbia, whether its configuration has changed, or whether the cited electricity price and savings persist. It is best understood as a historical example of matching data center location to workload, cost, and operating model.
Read Rich Miller’s June 6, 2012 report in Data Center Knowledge.
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