Meta Training Facility Approved for Brooksedge Plaza
The Westerville Planning Commission unanimously approved plans Wednesday to convert part of a Brooksedge Plaza office building into a training center for workers who will install fiber-optic and digital infrastructure at Meta data centers.
CBRE, which Meta hired to establish and operate training centers for its LevelUp Fiber Technician Pathway, requested conditional-use approval for 713 Brooksedge Plaza Drive.
Neither CBRE nor its representative at the meeting would confirm Meta’s involvement. However, floor plans submitted with the application identify the project as a Meta training facility.
LevelUp is a four-week program for people with no previous fiber-installation experience. Participants receive free, paid training in installing, testing, terminating, and labeling fiber-optic cable. They also learn to read construction drawings and work with network equipment.
Participants who successfully complete the program are offered full-time fiber-installer jobs through Meta’s contractor network, working on the construction of the company’s data centers. They would not necessarily become Meta employees or remain in Central Ohio.
CBRE has advertised LevelUp training in Indianapolis at $25 an hour, with housing, travel and food expenses covered for participants from outside the area. The company has not said whether trainees in Westerville would receive the same pay and benefits.
Westerville and Indianapolis are the only classroom locations CBRE has identified for LevelUp. The company’s recruitment website describes paid classroom and hands-on training in Columbus or Indianapolis, and the Westerville plans establish the Brooksedge Plaza building as the Columbus-area location.
The Westerville center would occupy about 35,000 square feet of a 49,000-square-foot, single-story office building constructed in 1987.
Floor plans show 10 classrooms, each with 24 individual training stations, for a total of 240 classroom positions. The facility is expected to accommodate an average of 200 trainees and instructors.
Training would take place on weekdays under two staggered schedules: 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The center also would include a workshop labeled a “mock data hall,” where trainees could practice work performed inside data centers. Plans show equipment racks, worktables and areas for cable pulling, rack assembly and grounding.
Other specialized spaces would include a server room, tool storage, Meta storage, luggage storage and counters outside the classrooms for tabletop exercises involving wiring and fiber-optic components.
Renovation work has already begun inside the building. No exterior construction, additional lighting, landscaping or signage was included in the conditional-use request.
CBRE’s lease provides access to as many as 250 parking spaces along the front, west and north sides of the building. City code requires 175 spaces for the proposed school use.
The Westerville center remains under renovation. CBRE has advertised an Aug. 31 training date for Indianapolis but has not released that center’s address or confirmed whether classes have begun there.
Meta expanded its workforce-training efforts in June by announcing America’s Workforce Academy, backed by an initial $115 million investment.
Meta said the academy grew out of the response to LevelUp, which received 35,000 applications during its first seven days.
America’s Workforce Academy includes a Construction-Ready training track developed with Associated Builders and Contractors and a fiber-technician track developed with CBRE. Both are four-week programs, according to Meta.
The Construction-Ready program trains participants in core construction trades before placing graduates in jobs with contractors working on Meta data-center projects. Meta says participants attend at no cost and may receive tuition, airfare, lodging and a daily stipend while training.
In Central Ohio, the Construction-Ready training is based at 1725 Jetway Blvd. on the east side of Columbus, near John Glenn Columbus International Airport. The facility shares the address with the Ohio Construction Academy, a public high school that provides academic instruction and hands-on construction-trades training.
The Construction-Ready location is separate from the proposed Westerville fiber-training center. The Jetway Boulevard program covers core construction trades, while the Brooksedge Plaza facility would focus on the fiber-optic installation work performed inside Meta data centers.
Ohio, Indiana, Louisiana and Texas were selected as the academy’s initial pilot states for 2026. Graduates receive industry-recognized credentials and are guaranteed jobs with participating Meta contractors, according to the company.
During Wednesday’s hearing, commission member Steven Munger proposed expediting the proceedings, saying an extended reading was unnecessary because the request did not seek anything beyond what the building could accommodate.
The commission approved the conditional use without questioning the applicant’s representative or asking him to address the commission.
The representative was sworn in as a witness but did not speak. He also did not sign the required speaker form and declined to provide his name or comment when approached by a reporter after the vote.
Repeated voicemail and email requests for additional information from CBRE went unanswered before the meeting.
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