With New Owners, Kansas City Carrier Hotel Gets Upgrades

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One of the entrances at 1102 Grand, the data center hub in Kansas City, which has been acquired by Amerimar. (Photo: 1102 Grand)

The new ownership of Kansas City data hub 1102 Grand has commenced redevelopment. Amerimar Enterprises and Hunter Newby acquired the property in October 2012 and quickly worked on a master plan to reinforce its position as the leading carrier hotel in the region.

“Kansas City is booming with innovative business opportunities and pushing the limits of telecommunication network capacity and as 1102 Grand is the City’s carrier hotel, these building improvements are necessary to foster continued growth,” said Newby, a joint venture partner at 1102 Grand.  “We look forward to strengthening the building’s infrastructure and providing connectivity options for the many growing companies in the region.”

This plan includes a complete overhaul of the electrical and cooling infrastructure. A permit has been secured for two additional 2 megawatt generators and has commenced construction on the first new generator. During the installation of the new generators, the partnership will be simultaneously increasing the incoming electrical service at the property by 66 percent to 5 MVA.

“These infrastructure improvements are in response to existing customer growth and robust new demand we are seeing in the market,” said Gerald Marshall, CEO of Amerimar Enterprises and owner of 1102 Grand.

Cooling Upgrades

Cooling upgrades will include significant capacity increases, as well as redundancy at each level from origination to delivery. The building will also benefit from a full façade repointing and selective replacement and resealing of windows. With these improvements, the new owners seek to secure the building envelope and eliminate any potential points of intrusion that could compromise the data center operations.

The partnership will also be upgrading the building management systems to monitor all security, fire alarm, fire suppression, cooling and power systems from one central command center, which will also be available remotely. The size of the facility’s support team has nearly doubled as well.

The project ownership cited the importance of cooperation from the city of Kansas City, Missouri, and the leadership of the Planned Industrial Expansion Authority, which have authorized the public-private partnership necessary to reinvigorate the historic structure.