Huge Leasing Deals for DuPont Fabros in Virginia

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The front of one of the northern Virginia data center properties operated by DuPont Fabros Technology. (Source; DFT)

Data center leasing in northern Virginia has picked up in a big way. In the month of April data center developer DuPont Fabros Technology (DFT) has signed up tenants for more than 18 megawatts of data center space at its new ACC6 data center in Ashburn, the company said today.

Two of the leases were at ACC6 Phase I, totaling 48,984 square feet of finiahed "wholesale" data center space. One lease for 8.67 megawatts of critical power commenced in the second quarter, and the other 1.08 MW lease will commence in the third quarter of 2012.

DuPont Fabros also said that it had pre-leased 8.67 megawatts of space (43,933 square feet) of raised-floor space in the second phase of ACC6, which will come online in phases in 2013. DuPont Fabros said the space was being pre-leased by an existing tenant in the second phase of its Chicago data center, and that DFT had granted the tenant a delay of scheduled lease commencements on 3.9 megawatts of space in Chicago scheduled for deployment between now and 2014.

DuPont Fabros did not identify the tenant. Last year cloud computing provider Rackspace Hosting leased 3.9 megawatts of space in phase II of the CHI data center. DFT said the unnamed Chicago tenant has the option to either occupy the Chicago space early, or relinquish 2.6 megawatts of the 3.9 megawatt lease by notifying the company by January 2013.

The ACC6 data center, the newest facility on DuPont Fabros' campus in the connectvity hub of Ashburn, is now 83 percent leased or pre-leased. Thus far in 2012, DFT has signed six leases totaling 23.25 MW and 116,302 raised square feet with an average lease term of 12.5 years and approximate contract value of $600 million.

Encouraged by that success, DuPont Fabros today raised its revenue guidance. The company said it now expects funds from operations (FFO) in a range from $1.44 to $1.54 per share, up from the previous projection of $1.31 to $1.51 per share. DFT also said it has increased its common stock dividend from $0.12 per share to $0.15 per share for the quarter ending June 30.