Block Data Center Plans Las Vegas Facility

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An illustration of the planned Block Data Center project in North Las Vegas (Source: TRES/Block Data Center)

Data center developer Telecom Real Estate Services (TRES) has launched Block Data Center, a Las Vegas project that will showcase the company's new strategy for developing wholesale data center space. The project on Losee Road will offer up to 13.8 megawatts of power capacity in "blocks" of data center space, which it will seek to lease to enterprise customers, with a focus on the healthcare industry.

This week TRES announced the start of construction of Block Data Center project in North Las Vegas, which will offer 7,500 square foot suites of data center space, and provide prospects with several options for how their space will be developed and priced.

"The way that the Block Data Center program works is we build the core and shell and all the N+1 systems," said Kevin Keating, CEO of TRES. "The tenant then selects whether they want to finance their own improvements and keep the rents comparable to office rents or we build and finance it for them at colocation rent. Each block is completely self sufficient other than the N+1 Systems. Each Tenant has their own power, HVAC and Generator with the building providing inline N+1 backup."

Strong Interest in Vegas, Nevada

The announcement illustrates the growth of the data center industry in Las Vegas, and Nevada's attractiveness as a destination for new projects. It's the second new data center initiative this week for the state, following Wednesday's debut of Rubicon Data Centers, and follows a flurry of activity in Las Vegas, which has included new projects (Pair, Cobalt, ViaWest), expansions (Switch) and acquisitions (Corelink, MarquisNet).

The Block project will be built in two phases. Phase I will offer 10 megawatts of power and 4 blocks of space, each with 1.2 megawatts of UPS capacity. The initial phase includes a complete retrofit of an existing 50,000 sf building, with 30,000 sf of raised floor area that will include four blocks of 7,500 sf each. Each block is constructed completely independent of the others so that colocation customers have the option to take one or up to four blocks. TRES will manage the facility and provide critical operations for its customers.

Telecom Real Estate Services is a veteran player in the industry, and has been developing telecom and data center facilities since 1998. TRES developed the Carrier Center portfolio and sold it to 360networks, and has built over 1.1 million square feet of space. More recently, the company redeveloped a property in Sacramanto and then sold it to Digital Realty.

"Since we refurbished and sold our Sacramento Data Center, companies from all over the U.S. have been calling us wanting affordable and cutting edge data center space with a quick time to market," said Keating. "By completing the design, bringing in the power, and having the block configuration ready, the Block Data Center can be delivered within six months at a fraction to ready built data center space."