DataGryd: Major New Player at 60 Hudson Street

60hudson

The exterior of 60 Hudson Street, one of the leading data center hubs in Manhattan.

DataGryd may be a new player in the New York data center market. But it's setting up shop in one of the city's iconic buildings, and bringing nearly a quarter million square feet of wholesale data center space to market in the heart of Manhattan.

That's the kind of entrance that commands attention. DataGryd is developing four floors of 60 Hudson Street, one of Manhattan's premier "carrier hotel" properties, as wholesale and build-to-suit data center space. Although the company is new, its executive team knows the building well. DataGryd's leadership includes veterans of Telx and FiberNet Telecom, companies which have operated interconnection facilities at 60 Hudson.

New York Market in Transition

DataGryd arrives on the scene at a transitional moment for the New York data center market. Manhattan has a reputation as a mature market, with most of its quality data center space focused in a handful of connectivity hubs that were established in the late 1990s following the deregulation of the telecom industry. But 2012 will see two new players bring substantial new chunks of come online, with DataGryd offering 25 megawatts of space at 60 Hudson Street, and Sabey Corp. retrofitting up to 40 megawatts of space at the former Verizon building at 375 Pearl Street (now Intergate.Manhattan).

These new players arrive as another key data center hub, 111 8th Avenue, has become the "Google building." Google bought the immense building, home to dozens of telecom and data center tenants, primarily for use as internal office space.

The DataGryd team has worked with the ownership of 60 Hudson to retrofit the landmark building to support additional power capacity. The ambitious project includes the installation of a cogeneration facility on the upper floors of 60 Hudson, as well as reworking the sub-basement area to house diesel backup generators. The cogen power and backup generators, along with the Con Edison utility supply, will feed into a microgrid that will offer flexible power options for new data center tenants. (See Upgrading A Landmark Data Center Hub).

Four Floors of Space Available

DataGryd is developing 240,000 square feet of space on floors 5, 6, 7 and 8 of 60 Hudson, which were previously occupied by the New York City Department of Corrections. Tenants can have space delivered as turn-key wholesale space or a custom build-to-suit data center.

"Ternants all have different needs," said Peter Feldman, the CEO of DataGryd. "I can't just build the space and say ‘you make your equipment fit.’ I can build to suit for the client, or they can provide a design.”

The company expects to have its first tenants online this summer, with additional expansion capabilities once the cogeneration system is fully installed, which is expected within the next 12 months.

Feldman has more than 20 years of experience in data center development, and was a co-founder of Telx, which operates one of the primary colocation and interconnection facilities within 60 Hudson.  The company's executive director is Jon DeLuca, previously CEo of FiberNet Telecom, which ran operated the first-floor meet-me-room at 60 Hudson (and then was acquired by Zayo Group). DataGryd is working with Jones Lang LaSalle as the leasing agent for the property.

One of the World's Most Connected Buildings

60 Hudson Street has dozens of tenants in the telecom or data center business, making it one of the world's most connected  buildings. The ability to tap a huge ecosystem or providers and potential partners has always been a key element of the building's appeal. DataGryd says it will facilitate interconnections between its customers and other tenants in the building, but won't charge any cross-connect fees.

“I've been in this industry quite a while, and I understand these business models," said Feldman. "We're not getting involved in people's network costs. We can engineer conduits, are only charging for the conduit, not the cross connect."

Feldman says DataGryd will lease space based on square footage and then use a flat-rate power billing system, charging customers for what they use, rather than the capacity of the space.

In recent years many enterprise data centers in the New York region have shifted some or all of their operations to New Jersey or others locales that offer more room and cheaper operating costs. But many companies require access to customers and connectivity in the city.

DataGryd believes there is plenty of demand to support the new space coming online in New York, including its project and the space at Intergate.Manhattan.

"We get a lot of people calling because they're transitioning out of older space and can't get a generator in their building," he said. "I think there's going to be plenty of customers for us, and for (Sabey) as well."