Quick Answer: Meta’s Prometheus data center in New Albany is set to come online in 2026 as the world’s first gigawatt-scale AI facility, and it is one of more than 114 data centers already sitting inside the Columbus MSA. That build cycle is pushing serious commercial coating demand across Central Ohio, especially interior CMU block, industrial epoxy floors, tilt-up panel repaints, intumescent steel, and MEP color coding. Building owners near New Albany, Hilliard, Lockbourne, and Dublin should expect coating crews to be booked out further, product lead times to stretch, and specs to lean toward higher-durability systems.
Table of Contents
- What Prometheus Actually Is
- The Rest of the Central Ohio Data Center Pipeline
- Where Paint Fits in a Data Center Build
- Downstream Effects on Columbus Commercial Buildings
- What Building Owners Should Do Right Now
- FAQ
What Prometheus Actually Is
Meta’s Prometheus campus sits at 1500 Beech Road in New Albany, off the same corridor Meta has been quietly buying up since 2020. Mark Zuckerberg confirmed the campus will be a 1-gigawatt cluster spanning multiple buildings, and NBC4 reports it is on track to come online in 2026 as the world’s first gigawatt-capable data center (source). To put 1 GW in context, that is enough electricity to run roughly 750,000 Ohio homes.
Meta is not relying on the local grid for that load. The company has struck power supply deals with TerraPower, Oklo, and Vistra, and is building on-site generation to feed the campus (NBC4). That means the New Albany site is not just one data hall. It is a data hall plus a small power plant plus substations plus cooling infrastructure. Every one of those buildings has a paint scope.
The Rest of the Central Ohio Data Center Pipeline
Prometheus is the marquee project, but it is nowhere near alone. WOSU reports Columbus is on pace to become the second-largest data center hub in the Great Lakes region behind Chicago, with 114 facilities already inside the metro (WOSU). Google announced a $1.7 billion investment across three Central Ohio campuses in New Albany, Columbus, and Lancaster, expanding on its original $600M New Albany build. QTS, Amazon Web Services, and Microsoft round out the top four landowners, together sitting on more than 5,000 acres in the region (Data Center Frontier).
The Central Ohio Building Trades Council’s 2026 forecast calls out the datacenter build as the single biggest driver of union construction hours this year (source). Bechtel, Turner, Gilbane, and multiple national mechanicals are all staffed up locally. That crew count is what matters to Columbus building owners, because those same subcontractor trees pull from the same paint and drywall labor pool the rest of us hire from.
Where Paint Fits in a Data Center Build
Most people picture a data center as a windowless box, and assume there is not much painting to do. The reality is the opposite. A modern hyperscale data hall runs through more high-performance coating than a comparable warehouse or manufacturing plant, because every surface has a job.
- CMU block interior walls. Data halls almost always run 12-inch or 16-inch CMU with an epoxy block filler followed by a two-coat direct-to-CMU epoxy or high-solids acrylic. This finish has to hold up to positive-pressure air handling, minor abrasion from cable trays and racks, and periodic cleaning without chalking.
- Industrial epoxy floors. Every data hall floor, every mechanical room, every generator yard curb needs an ESD-friendly epoxy or urethane. Colors are usually gray or beige with yellow safety walkways. Cure times drive the CO date on this scope alone.
- Intumescent coatings on structural steel. Fire ratings on the columns and beams in the equipment yards and mechanical mezzanines are typically hit with intumescent, not sprayed cementitious. That is a specialty scope where DFT (dry film thickness) is inspected panel by panel.
- MEP color coding. Chilled water lines, condenser water lines, natural gas lines, and dry pipe sprinkler all get painted to ASME A13.1 color codes. On a 1 GW campus, that is miles of pipe.
- Substation and gen yard steel. Outdoor steel gets zinc-rich primer plus two coats of industrial urethane. Anything exposed to Ohio winters needs that system to actually last 10 to 15 years.
Downstream Effects on Columbus Commercial Buildings
Here is what building owners on the retail, office, multifamily, healthcare, and light industrial side need to know: the datacenter build is absorbing labor and lead time from the same supplier and subcontractor pool that services your properties.
Three real effects to expect through the rest of 2026:
- Longer lead times on quality commercial coating crews. The bigger data hall trades are booking painting sub work six to nine months out. That backs up the pipeline for smaller commercial repaint projects. If your building has a scheduled repaint in Q4, that scope should already be quoted and on the calendar.
- Product lead time creep. Sherwin-Williams and PPG are still fine on standard product, but tinted-to-order colors on Pro Industrial and Macropoxy systems are running longer than they were 12 months ago. If you have a corporate brand color that is a custom tint, order it 4 to 6 weeks before mobilization, not 2.
- Spec pressure toward higher-durability systems. Anyone bidding data hall work has to know Tnemec, Carboline, and Sherwin’s industrial line. That expertise trickles into general commercial specs. Expect more property managers to ask for direct-to-metal epoxy on service doors instead of a spot rust primer plus latex.
What Building Owners Should Do Right Now
Three practical moves this quarter:
- Get your Q4 scope on paper now. If a repaint or retouch is landing in October, November, or December, get it walked and quoted this month. Waiting until August risks pushing into 2027.
- Lock your color specs. Especially on branded exterior work. If your paint contractor is using anything other than a straight base color, the tint delay is a real risk.
- Don’t skimp on the primer coat. The data center trades are teaching a generation of Central Ohio paint crews that primer choice is not optional. That standard is climbing across all commercial work. If a bid skips it, that is a red flag.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does the data center boom affect commercial painting prices in Columbus?
Labor rates for commercial coating crews in Central Ohio are up roughly 6 to 9 percent year over year, tracking with union rate movement across the trades. Product pricing is more stable, but tint availability and specialty product lead times have stretched. Owners who quoted a project 18 months ago and are just now scheduling it should expect the bid to be requoted.
Are painting contractors bidding data center work also available for commercial repaints?
Some are, some are not. The subs running full crews on Meta, Google, and QTS sites are mostly out of the smaller commercial market for the duration. Firms that stayed diversified across data center, healthcare, multifamily, retail, and light industrial are still taking commercial repaint calls. Ask any bidder point-blank what their current data hall workload looks like before you sign.
Which paint products do data centers actually use?
Common specs run through Sherwin-Williams Macropoxy 646 and Pro Industrial DTM Acrylic, Tnemec Series 1224 Endura-Shield, and Carboline Carboguard 890 for high-abrasion interior. For intumescent, Sherwin FireTex FX2003 and Carboline Thermosorb are on most bid tables. Floors are usually Sherwin ArmorSeal or Sika Sikafloor systems.
Is Intel’s delay affecting the data center boom?
Not really. Intel pushing Ohio One to 2030/2031 slowed one project but did not slow the broader New Albany data center market. Meta, Google, QTS, and AWS are all expanding independently of Intel’s timeline. Central Ohio construction hours are still forecast up in 2026 (source).
Does data center growth affect nearby commercial property owners?
Yes. Property values around New Albany, Hilliard, and Lockbourne have moved up, and secondary tenant demand (equipment suppliers, contractor offices, staffing companies) is stronger. That has translated into more tenant improvement work in the ring around active data campuses. If you own commercial property in those submarkets, expect more TI activity and more repaint frequency on your interiors.
Commercial Coating Scope in Central Ohio
PaintWerks handles the full commercial coating scope for Columbus building owners, from interior CMU and drywall to industrial epoxy floors and exterior steel. If your building is in the ring around New Albany, Dublin, Hilliard, or Lockbourne, and you have a repaint, retouch, or TI scope landing in the second half of 2026, get on the schedule now while lead times still work. See our full commercial painting scope or request a walkthrough.
