ByteGrid Expands Cleveland Data Center

ByteGrid has commissioned 45,000 square feet of new data center space and 4 megawatts of power in a technology center in downtown Cleveland.

ByteGrid acquired the Cleveland Technology Center in 2013, following news it had secured a $100 million credit facility. The CTC is a 330,000-square-foot data center property sitting atop one of the larger fiber points of presence sites in Ohio. Acting as a carrier hotel in the region, the CTC was half leased at the time of acquisition.

In less than four months, ByteGrid renovated the Cleveland data center, which now encompasses 26,000 square feet of new high-density raised floor. The company also completed 19,000 square feet of conditioned space for mechanical, electrical, and power equipment, and new office space as well. ByteGrid is building out the facility incrementally and said it will soon build an additional 30,000 square feet to address demand.

Tracey Nichols, director of Cleveland Economic Development, said ByteGrid investing in the center was big opportunity for the city. “We have a very large medical tech community here in Cleveland, and Big Data is a huge component of that,” said Nichols.

Cleveland data center demand is on the rise, according to the economic development official. The city has a large number of businesses, including law firms, accounting firms and banks, and the needs continue to grow.

“We have a couple of great data centers, but demand is greater than what we have," she said. "Data centers will encourage more businesses to come to Cleveland as well.”

Why Cleveland? The city has had its difficulties, as any reader of Harvey Pekar can tell you. It also has its charm, as those same readers will tell you, and is currently undergoing a re-birth of sorts.

Regarding the city as a data center location, Cleveland is strategic to serving the Ohio corridor, bisecting major business centers of Chicago and New York. There are over 100 Fortune 500 companies with operations in Cleveland.

The city is also a data center-friendly environment. There are very few "business interruption" days in the city, said Nichols, generous tax breaks, including a state tax abatement for equipment, which lowers both ByteGrid's and its customers' cost. There is also a 100 GB network coming in, which ByteGrid will tap.

The announcement is an example of ongoing activity in Ohio's data center markets, ranging from mega data center projects by Amazon to local managed services rollups, such as Involta's recent acquisition of Data Recovery Services. In a venture called the Foundry Project, a group of entrepreneurs is pitching a unique combination of fish farm and data center in Ohio as well.