Digital Realty to Develop Dallas Data Center Park

dlr-collins

The Collins Technology Center in Richardson, Texas. Digital Realty Trust is redeveloping the former Alcatel campus as a data center park (Photo: Digital Realty Trust).

Digital Realty Trust (DLR) has taken the lead in a long-running effort to redevelop a campus in the Richardson, Texas as a data center park that could eventually feature 800,000 square feet of mission-critical space. Digital Realty has acquired 60 percent of the former Collins Technology Park through a joint venture with previous property owner Skyrise Properties, the companies said today.

"This acquisition positions Digital Realty Trust as the largest wholesale datacenter provider in the Dallas/Fort Worth market," said Brent Behrman, Vice President of Global Sales for Digital Realty Trust. "With its availability of power, fiber and our team of datacenter experts, the Richardson campus will be the premier datacenter facility in the Southwest and the epicenter of the Dallas Technology community."

Plenty of Power
The 70-acre property includes seven buildings ranging from 15,000 to 250,000 square feet, with a total of 797,000 square feet. An on-site 40 megawatt substation can be expanded to 125 megawatts, with fiber connectivity from multiple providers. Digital Realty plans on having data center space ready at the site in early 2010.

"We've been looking at this property for a long time," said Chris Crosby, senior vice president for business development at Digital Realty Trust. "Dallas has been a great market for us."

Crosby said the volume of space and mix of existing properties gives Digital the opportunity to offer customers anything from turn-key space to powered shell to custom scenarios. "This is really the first time we can deliver any of our products from the same campus," said Crosby. "We have quite a bit of interest in Turn-Key Datacenters."

First Phase Features Turn-Key Space
The first phase of Digitial Realty's development plan will feature several pods of turnkey space, each offering 1.125 megawatts of critical load. The Turn-key Datacenter program offers customers finished ”plug and play” raised-floor data center space, which shifts the data center development costs from the tenant to the landlord, and allows for much quicker deployment than if the customer built a new facility on its own.

The property in the heart of Richardson's "Telecom Corridor" once housed a major Alcatel facility. Skyrise Properties bought the project in 2006 and reposiitoned it as a data center campus. 

"This transaction is a great example of our ability to maintain relationships with owners and sellers of strategic data center properties in top markets," said Chris Kenney, Vice President of Acquisitions for Digital Realty Trust. "We have worked with our new partner off and on over the last 18 months, which ultimately resulted in the joint venture transaction we are pleased to announce today."