Power Loft Adds More Power, Space

powerloft-exterior

The exterior of the Power Loft data center in Manassas, Virginia.

Corporate Office Properties Trust (COPT) has quickly followed through on its plans to expand the infrastructure at its Power Loft data center project in Manassas, Virginia. COPT, a large real estate investment trust targeting the government market, bought Power Loft for $115 million in September and has begun construction to add infrastructure for another 3 megawatts of space.

Power Loft is building out the remainder of the raised floor in the first phase (West building), which will result in a total of 50,000 square feet of finished data center space, of which approximately 18,750 square feet is occupied by two tenants. The company is also installing an array of the higher efficiency centrifugal chillers and two more Hitec rotary UPS units, reports Jim Coakley of Power Loft Services.

The 233,000 square foot Power Loft data center opened its doors earlier this year, with a new design focused on energy efficiency. COPT will complete the development of the remaining tenant space of the facility, and expects to invest an additional $166 million in development costs.

Power Loft was one of the first designs to create a "hard separation" between the server area and the mechanical equipment. The data center has 50 megawatts of power capacity from the Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative (NOVEC) and employs a flexible “hybrid power” distribution system from Validus DC Power that offers users the option of AC or DC power.

COPT is a real estate investment trust that focuses on properties for the federal government, including specialized IT facilities for the defense sector. The company owns 267 office and data properties totaling 20 million rentable square feet, and is well-versed in data center development.