Gold Data Centers Buys Las Vegas Facility With a Big Tenant

Gold Data Centers has acquired a 24,000-square-foot data center in Las Vegas. The facility is leased to a publicly traded $23 billion company and acts as its primary data center. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Gold Data Centers purchased the facility due to the stability and strength of the tenant and the build itself. The data center has access to 20-plus telecom fiber carriers and dual power feeds from different substations. The buyer also noted recent activity in the Las Vegas market as key part of its rationale.

The acquisition is another instance of a sale-leaseback, a transaction that's become common nowadays as enterprises look to shed facility operations responsibilities and free up capital. The company that buys the building in such transactions gets a property with built-in ability to generate revenue.

“Recently, there has been a lot of activity in the Las Vegas market with ViaWest’s Lone Mountain Data Center, Cobalt’s data center and the ever expanding Switch SuperNAP facilities," Bill Minkle, CEO of Gold Data Centers, said. "We feel that all the energy and activity in this market enhances the value of these technical facilities and is a great fit for Gold Data Centers. We will continue to look for opportunities in this space all over North America and possibly overseas.”

The Las Vegas market has a favorable tax environment and small chance of natural disasters. It has become home of several “showcase” facilities for companies like the ones Minkle mentioned.

One of them, Switch, recently landed CenturyLink and Shutterfly as customers.

In June, Gold sold a 30,000-square-foot data center it was developing in Sacramento to an undisclosed Internet and networking company. It was initially intended as a multi-tenant facility with four data halls.

Sacramento was chosen for the development due to its growing popularity for those looking for seismically stable space in Northern California. Sacramento sits on a different tectonic plate from the Bay Area, yet remains close enough to appeal to Bay Area companies.