Huge Lucent Plant Converted to Data Center

A 1.2 million square foot former Lucent Technologies plant in Oklahoma City is being retooled for data center use, according to local media reports. The first phase of the conversion, a 15,000 square foot pod for hosting provider Rack59, will open within two weeks.

The OKCWorks campus features four buildings that can be developed as data centers. Developers Terryl Zerby and Ron Ward bought the unoccupied 250-acre property for $14 million in 2004, and soon realized that the site's power infrastructure lent itself to mission-critical facilities. OKCWorks has an on-site Oklahoma Gas & Electric substation fed by two 138kV transmission lines from separate generating sources. The current 25 megawatt capacity can be expanded to 45 megawatts, and local power costs are 4.2 cents per kWh.

The new facility follows the emergence of Oklahoma as a robust market for data center site location. Google's decision to build a $600 million data center in Pryor is the largest in a series of new projects, including a big expansion by EDS in Tulsa and new facilities from Chickasaw Nation Industries, Perimeter Technology and Titan Private Security.

"We believe OKCWorks has traits that are unmatched in the industry anywhere on the globe when it comes to expansion flexibility for users," said Tom Freeman of Jones Lang LaSalle, which is marketing the property. "Also, the speed to market possibilities of OKCWorks will offer a terrific solution in an industry where urgent business needs surface rapidly."