Mission West Targets Oregon for Data Centers

Mission West Properties, a major player in Silicon Valley real estate, is planning two major data center projects in Oregon, citing the state as one of the country's most attractive areas for data center development. Mission West (MSW) is a major public real estate investment trust (REIT) headed by billionaire investor Carl Berg, who said he believes the data sector is poised for major growth.

“As a result of cloud computing, we believe the demand for Web hosting will increase dramatically in the next two to three years,” Berg recently told The Registry.

One of the properties is in Ontario, Oregon, where CDH Consulting is seeking to buy 66 acres of land to build a major data center. CDH, which is headed by industry veteran Chris Hardin, is partnering with Mission West on the project. The Ontario City Council is expected to vote tonight on the proposed $1.3 million land sale, according to local media.

The second site has not been publicly identified. One possibility: Local officials in Prineville, Oregon have been in discussions with a site selection company representing a "well known, well funded company" planning a major data center.

CDH has been scouting Oregon data center sites for several years. In early 2008 it leased vacant land within the Port of Morrow in Heppner, Ore. for evaluation as a data center site.

Mission West owns more than 100 properties totaling almost 8 million square feet, with major tenants including Apple and Microsoft. Berg told The Registry that the company's plans call for two 200,000 square foot data centers. The projects were sparked by interest from a "former tenant who is an expert on web hosting."

Hardin told the Argus Observer that the search for a tenant for the Ontario project has already begun, but could take nine months to a year. Ontario City Manager Henry Lawrence, who flew to California to tour one of Berg’s facilities, told the paper that the city's economic development team have been working on this deal for about six months.