ABX-1 nears completion. Picture courtesy of PowerHouse Knowledge Facilities and DPR Development
PowerHouse Knowledge Facilities, a three way partnership of American Actual Property Companions (AREP) and Harrison Road, has topped out ABX-1, its first knowledge heart mission in Northern Virginia. The powered shell was constructed by DPR Development. It measures 265,850 sq. toes and can initially present 60 megawatts. The primary occupants are anticipated in July, whereas remaining completion is scheduled for October.
The three way partnership partnered with Dominion Vitality to assemble a devoted, 300-megawatt energy substation on the 10-acre website. It will allow the operator to scale up the full accessible energy to 80 megawatts. Groundbreaking for the substation is anticipated quickly, with supply deliberate for 2026.
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PowerHouse is aiming to leverage AREP’s actual property connections to disrupt the market by way of a number of strategies. They embrace “shopping for present properties and scraping/retrofitting them into reimagined powered shells to meet hyperscaler exact specs, being the primary on this market to make room for brand new hyperscalers with out-of-the-box actual property offers, using AREP’s long-standing relationships and growth experience to safe future websites earlier than they arrive in the marketplace and addressing the facility problem by providing on-site substations in partnership with the native power authority and knowledge heart group,” Luke Kipfer, vp of information heart growth and building at PowerHouse, informed Industrial Property Government.
PowerHouse’s first NoVa knowledge heart
ABX-1 is a two-story constructing situated at 21629 Beaumeade Circle in Ashburn, Va., adjoining to Loudoun County Parkway, inside the area’s Knowledge Heart Alley. Knowledge halls will be configured to measure as much as 79,600 sq. toes per ground, at energy densities starting from 225 to 310 watts per sq. foot. Purchasers may have entry to the area’s wealthy fiber infrastructure, with 25 fiber suppliers accessible, in addition to to all main cloud suppliers, a number of interconnection hubs and web exchanges.
The three way partnership tapped Avison Younger to market the property, concentrating on hyperscale customers. Principal Rob Walters and Knowledge Supervisor John Andril are the brokers for ABX-1, with leasing efforts already underway.
A $1 billion dedication
Development exercise at ABX-1. Picture courtesy of PowerHouse Knowledge Facilities and DPR Development
PowerHouse’s first growth in Ashburn is a part of the corporate’s plan to assemble 2.1 million sq. toes of information heart house in Northern Virginia. AREP and Harrison Road introduced the three way partnership final yr, kicking it off with a $1 billion funding.
In Ashburn, the three way partnership is planning a complete of 4 knowledge facilities—the ABX-1 facility and a further campus—whereas two further amenities can be constructed in Arcola.
The Ashburn campus will embrace the redevelopment of the previous AOL headquarters on Pacific Boulevard right into a three-building knowledge heart campus named PowerHouse Pacific. The 1.1 million-square-foot mission will present 265 megawatts at most capability throughout 716,170 sq. toes of information halls. It’s slated for completion in 2026.
PowerHouse Arcola will comprise two knowledge facilities with a most capability of 120 megawatts throughout 364,100 sq. toes of information halls. The buildings are set to come back on-line in 2025 and 2026.
Sustainable building
PowerHouse joined the Infrastructure Masons Local weather Accord in January this yr. The membership represents a dedication to make use of sustainable knowledge heart design, building and operation practices, together with clear ESG efficiency reporting.
In developing ABX-1, roughly 11,000 tons of concrete from the earlier constructing had been crushed on-site and reused, together with 387 tons of metals recycled from different buildings. “We’re dedicated to decreasing our knowledge heart carbon footprint through the use of renewable power sources, implementing energy-efficient design and using sustainable building practices and supplies resembling low-carbon concrete, the place possible,” Kipfer informed CPE.
Coming into the high-barrier NoVa market
In a current Cushman & Wakefield comparability report, Northern Virginia ranked first for 3 years in a row. Nonetheless, this yr’s rating witnessed a tie between this market and Portland on account of speedy progress within the Hillsboro space.
The area stays a prime vacation spot for builders on account of its entry to low-latency fiber and dense interconnection potential. Even so, demand continues to outpace provide available in the market, which recorded below 1 p.c emptiness by the tip of 2022, in line with the report.
Nonetheless, the market is just not with out points. Developable land is scarce, and builders pay premium costs to construct right here. Energy availability additionally grew to become a priority lately, with talks of halting new knowledge heart building in Loudoun County, on account of limitations in offering electrical energy. This led builders to focus on different Virginia markets resembling Gainesville, Bristol, Culpeper, Manassas and Richmond.
PowerHouse is without doubt one of the two newest entrants to the biggest knowledge heart market within the U.S. Different current developments within the area embrace CorScale’s debut, a 300-megawatt facility in Gainesville, in line with Knowledge Heart Dynamics.
To fulfill cloud demand, Amazon Internet Companies additionally introduced a $35 billion funding in Northern Virginia over the subsequent 17 years, which can successfully double its presence within the area.
