CyrusOne Breaks Ground on Second Facility in Phoenix

CyrusOne has broken ground on the second data center at its campus in Chandler, Ariz., which is right outside of Phoenix. At full build, the building will have 60,000 square feet of data center space and up to 12 megawatts of power. A recent large contract at the existing facility on campus -- a 41,000-square-foot deal -- necessitated speeding up construction of the second facility.

Kevin Timmons, the company's CTO, said the deal was with a large technology company but did not name the customer. "Demand is so strong that we are moving up our plans to build this second facility by nearly a year," he said.

CyrusOne has been on a building tear in general, expanding in several Texas markets, as well as planning a sizeable data center in Northern Virginia’s data center alley.

The expansion will add to the more than 77,500 square feet of space already commissioned in Chandler, and the company will have room for seven more data centers on the campus going forward. CyrusOne purchased the 57-acre parcel of land that houses its Phoenix campus in 2011, breaking ground in May 2012.

Driven by the need to store rainwater, the company employed an unusual roof design with the first Chandler facility.

The Arizona market began as a popular disaster recovery choice for companies in southern California before growing into its own booming market over the years. The new data center will be aimed at Fortune 1000 companies looking to locate in an area -- considered one of the safest in the country, free from earthquakes, tornadoes and hurricanes.

"Arizona is proud of its reputation as one of the most business-friendly data center locations in the country," Arizona State Representative Jeff Dial said. "More than just low rates of seismic activity and other natural disasters, we offer CyrusOne and its customers a robust fiber network, competitive electricity rates, low-latency connectivity to West Coast cities and a highly educated technology workforce."