Sabey Data Center Properties announced that Windstream Corp. has selected Sabey's Intergate.Manhattan data center as the location for a new central office to provide capacity for future growth as well as further protection against natural disasters like Superstorm Sandy.

Windstream will be a powered shell customer at Intergate.Manhattan, building out its own facility comprising 11,000 sq ft with a 15-year lease. Windstream has contracted for 664 kW of power with the option to expand to 1 MW. Windstream also plans to install a major satellite communications center at Intergate.Manhattan with an antenna farm on the data center's roof.

Michael Morris of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank executed the point-of-entry lease on behalf of Sabey Data Centers. Michael Rareshide of Partners National represented Windstream in the lease negotiations.

Based in Little Rock, AR, Windstream is a FORTUNE 500 and S&P 500 company that provides network communications, including cloud computing and managed services, to businesses nationwide. Windstream also offers broadband, phone and digital TV services to consumers primarily in rural areas.

Sabey, the largest privately-owned multi-tenant data center owner and developer on the West Coast, has scheduled final commissioning for Intergate.Manhattan at 375 Pearl Street in lower Manhattan for October 2013. It is now commencing mission-critical operations at the 1-million-sq-foot tower.

John Sabey, president, Sabey Data Center Properties, said, "Sitting at a confluence of the world's transatlantic cable and fiber routes, Intergate.Manhattan is a crucial presence as our Sabey Data Center network expands. Equally important, Intergate.Manhattan will be the next and best carrier hotel on the East Coast, offering unprecedented opportunities for network carriers to expand their customer operations."

Daniel Meltzer, Sabey vice president of sales and leasing, said, "Clearly, the fact that Intergate.Manhattan was untouched by Superstorm Sandy was a major factor in Windstream's decision to expand at 375 Pearl Street. This expansion will 'future proof' Windstream for the next 15 years."

The building offers many advantages that are not available elsewhere in Manhattan. The purpose-built data center's 35,000-sq-ft floor plates are designed for tenant expansion and are augmented on three sides by large, basement-to-roof open shafts, or "bustles," which are external to the building and which allow almost unlimited vertical transportation potential for fiber and MEP commodities without disturbing existing tenants. High clear heights with easily-accessible, open, overhead cableways obviate the clutter and confusion of raised floor cabling.

Intergate.Manhattan will be Windstream's third central office in Manhattan and its fourth serving the New York metropolitan area.

"Intergate.Manhattan is a secure, hardened site that provides Windstream with important network diversity as well as added protection against natural disasters like Superstorm Sandy," said Joe Marano, executive vice president of network operations for Windstream. "In addition, it offers ample room for expansion as more and more business customers choose Windstream's data, voice, network, and cloud solutions."

All critical systems, including the new electrical service and associated systems, have been placed on the second floor (33 ft above grade level), or higher, in the building to assure the highest level of uptime.

In addition, the property's on-site security and life safety measures include pre-action fire suppression systems, 24-hour data center monitoring and operations support, and on-site security officers, biometric, and other access controls. The building's perimeter is patrolled by the New York Police Department and Homeland Security.

"As the few major existing data centers and carrier hotels in Manhattan are nearing capacity from space, power, and cooling perspectives, we view Intergate.Manhattan as an asset uniquely positioned to offer a world class computing environment for those users with on-island data center needs," Sabey said.