Digital Realty Buys More Virginia Properties

Digital Realty Trust (DLR) said today that it has acquired two fully leased data centers in the hot northern Virginia market, as well as a parcel of land in the heart of Ashburn's "Data Center Alley" that can support future construction. Digital Realty, the largest owner and operator of data center properties, paid $63.3 million to acquire properties at 21561 & 21571 Beaumeade Circle in Ashburn and 45901 & 45845 Nokes Boulevard in Sterling.

Digital Realty did not identify the tenants. The 164,000 square foot Ashburn site is an AT&T web hosting facility, while the Sterling properties are operated by managed hosting provider Savvis Inc. and span 167,000 square feet.

The deals continue a buying spree in which Digital Realty has acquired leased data centers in Silicon Valley, Boston and now Virginia as part of an initiative to buy additional income properties, which generate revenue through rent from existing tenants.

Location, Location, Location
But the Ashburn deal also provides Digital Realty with 10.7 square acres of vacant land, enough space to build a 140,000 square foot data center, the company said. The Beaumeade Circle property is adjacent to the huge data center campuses operated by Equinix and DuPont Fabros Technology in one of the most connected stretches of real estate in the Eastern United States, and just down the road from Digital Realty's four-building data center campus off Devin Shafron Drive.

"We are continuing to execute on our strategy to grow FFO by investing in income producing facilities at attractive risk-adjusted returns in top tier markets with this acquisition," said Scott Peterson, Senior Vice President of Acquisitions for Digital Realty Trust. "The buildings are strategically located near our existing Northern Virginia facilities and are leased to existing DLR customers. This further expands our footprint in this key data center market to approximately 1.2 million rentable square feet. The addition of the land parcel can also serve to accommodate future growth."

"This transaction brings total acquisitions of income producing properties to $197.7 million for 2009, near the high end of our acquisitions guidance for the year," said William Stein, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Investment Officer for Digital Realty Trust.