Digital Realty Buys Databank Building in Dallas

Digital Realty Trust continues to double down in Dallas. The data center developer announced today that it has acquired 400 South Akard Street in Dallas, also known as The Databank Building. The building, which is 85 percent leased, includes 269,600 square feet of space.

Digital Realty already owns one of the premier Internet gateways in Dallas, the Univision building at 2323 Bryan Street, as well as Datacenter Park Dallas, an 800,000 square foot data center campus in Richardson.

400 South Akard is a seven-story property built in 1921 to house the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. In 2000 the building was renovated as a technology and telecom hub, taking advantage of security features from its use as a banking facility.

"This highly strategic building features large floor-plates, high ceilings, and robust floor loading making it an attractive alternative for customers in the Dallas area looking for high quality data center space in the downtown Dallas market," said Michael Foust, Chief Executive Officer of Digital Realty. "With extensive network connectivity, including to our 2323 Bryan Street Internet Gateway, the 400 South Akard Street facility is an ideal complement to our Dallas portfolio."

Colocation provider DataBank is the largest tenant, operating six data halls totaling 140,000 square feet.

"The property is currently 85% leased to eight tenants with approximately 85% of the base rental revenue stream secured by long term leases with two tenants through at least 2024," said Scott Peterson, Chief Acquisitions Officer of Digital Realty. "While there is an attractive value add opportunity in building out and leasing the balance of the available space in the building, we expect to achieve attractive returns based on our conservative underwriting, which assumes the property continues to operate at its current occupancy throughout the investment horizon."

The existing facility delivers approximately 11.7 megawatts of critical load, with the ability to expand to up to 18 megawatts. The property is located in the central business district of Dallas, approximately 1.5 miles from Digital Realty's 2323 Bryan Street property.