Rubicon Data Centers Launches With Reno Project

rubicon-reno

Rubicon Data Centers, a new venture formed by veterans of 365 Main, has announced plans for a major data center project near Reno, Nevada.

Rubicon Data Centers, a new data center development company based in San Francisco, today announced plans for its first data center development project in Reno, where it plans to build a 20-megawatt, 300,000 square foot data center as the first phase in a larger mission-critical campus.

Rubicon is led by industry veterans JP Balajadia and Kevin Louie, both former principals in the 365 Main data center venture. They are partnering with Prologis, a leading owner and developer of industrial real estate, to develop a data center campus on 44 acres at the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center, a large industrial park about eight miles east of Reno.

The Rubicon project is the latest in a series of major data center wins for the Reno area. In June Apple confirmed plans to build a major data center in Reno, and a month later Defense IT specialist NJVC announced plans for a Reno facility.

The Rubicon project will feature data center suites for enterprise customers, multi-tenant colocation rooms and office space. The site has access to power and water from Nevada Energy and TRI Water & Sewer Co., with the ability to purchase power from wholesale providers in the area to reduce overall power costs. Rubicon intends to deliver transmission power rates averaging 4.5 centers per kilowatt hour (kWh).

Reno's Benefits: Ideal Climate, Tax Structure

Reno lies on the western edge of a geographic “safe zone” for disasters, making it one of the most stable data center environments in the continental United States, and the cool, dry Reno climate provides ideal conditions for highly efficient cooling systems with low water consumption. In addition, Nevada provides favorable tax incentives (reduced sales tax and abated personal property taxes) to attract and retain new companies.

“Our goal is to deliver premium data centers at the lowest total cost of occupancy to all size tenants," said Balajadia. "Low cost data center sites located in the Pacific Northwest have only been available to the Facebooks of the world. Our inaugural site in Reno provides similar benefits - low cost power, reduced sales and property taxes, and an environment conducive to achieving a low PUE.

“Reno is the logical destination for California companies that want these benefits without having to deploy their equipment in towns in eastern Oregon and Washington that may not be as easily accessible," he added. "Reno is an hour flight or three-hour drive from San Francisco.”

"As data centers become more commoditized, total cost of occupancy has become increasingly more important,” said Louie. “Our data center in Reno will be able to offer a very low total cost of occupancy, when factoring not just rent, but power, taxes, operating expenses, and labor."

The state of Nevada is touting data centers as a growth sector as it seeks to diversify its economy, which has been hit hard to declines in tourism and the real estate market.

“Nevada welcomes Rubicon Data Centers," said Stan Thomas, the executive vice president with the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada. "I look forward to helping Rubicon and its customers take advantage of the favorable tax incentives offered to companies doing business in our state."

Rubicon Data Centers is an affiliate of Rubicon Point Partners, a real estate investment company based out of San Francisco. The company's launch by Balajadia and Louie is the second recent piece of industry news featuring alumni of the 365 Main data center portfolio, which was the portfolio was sold to Digital Realty for $725 million in 2010. In a separate venture announced last month, two other members of 365 Main team, Chris Dolan and Jamie McGrath, acquired 16 data centers from Equinix.