Courtesy of Benzinga.
QTS Realty Trust (NYSE: QTS), one of the nation’s largest and fastest-growing providers of data center facilities and cloud services, and a leader in security and compliance, announced today that it has completed the acquisition of the former Sun Times Press facility, a 317,000 square foot building located on 30 acres in downtown Chicago, for approximately $18 million.
This transaction aligns with QTS’ growth strategy of purchasing strategically located, infrastructure-rich, large-scale data center facilities at a low basis. The facility is located in the heart of Chicago’s high-demand downtown corridor. QTS will have a strategic location and significant capacity to provide its unique 3C product platform of custom data center (C1), colocation (C2) and cloud and managed services (C3).
This announcement follows last week’s acquisition of McGraw Hill’s large-scale data center in New Jersey.
The Chicago facility, located at 2800 S. Ashland Avenue, is approximately 317,000 gross square feet with capacity for approximately 134,000 square feet of raised floor and 24 MW of power. QTS intends to redevelop the facility, which will increase its size to approximately 400,000 gross square feet with raised floor capacity of approximately 215,000 square feet and 37 MW of power. In addition, further expansion can take place on the property’s 30 acres. The facility has robust connectivity including direct access to long haul fiber networks.
Based on the significant infrastructure and prior investment in this facility, QTS expects to develop the data center space at below market rates.
“Our strategy and business model is to provide an integrated technology platform on top of world-class infrastructure,” said Chad Williams, Chief Executive Officer – QTS. “This acquisition strongly supports our growth philosophy. We look forward to bringing the QTS brand of operational excellence and premium customer experience to the Chicago data center market.”
With the acquisition of the Chicago facility, QTS expands its data center footprint in the Midwest. Chicago’s central location has long made it a hub for financial services, healthcare, technology and a host of consumer goods and service industries. The greater Chicago area is home to more than 30 Fortune 500 companies.
QTS has initially financed this transaction through its revolving credit facility. The transaction closed on Tuesday, July 8. QTS plans to provide more details regarding the acquisition on the second quarter conference call, scheduled for July 30, 2014.
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