QTS Realty Trust has completed the purchase of a 260,000-sq-ft data center in Fort Worth, Texas from Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC). The facility becomes QTS' second mega data center in the broader Dallas-Fort Worth-Irving market and strengthens its ability to serve Fortune 1000 enterprises as well as regional financial services, health care, and technology companies. The connectivity-rich facility is carrier-neutral with 12 carriers and is situated adjacent to a number of other large enterprise and technology company-owned data center facilities, including a one million square foot data center operated by one of the largest social media companies in the world.
QTS purchased the existing 8 gross megawatt (MW) facility for approximately $50 million, which represents an upfront cost per megawatt of approximately $6 million. The facility currently features 40,000 sq ft of built-out raised floor available today and 8 MW of gross power with powered shell that is able to support total capacity of approximately 80,000 sq ft of raised floor. Ultimately, including adjacent land, the site can support a total of more than 300,000 square feet of raised floor and 60 MW of gross power. QTS has financed this transaction through its revolving credit facility.
"Our success in one of the nation's largest Tier 1 markets is a testament to the value our customers are seeing in our fully integrated platform," said Chad Williams, chairman and CEO – QTS. "We are excited about our ability to quickly expand and meet the growing needs of current and new customers in another state-of-the-art facility."
In connection with the purchase of the HCSC data center, HCSC will remain an anchor tenant in the facility with a one megawatt lease. The transaction establishes a new strategic relationship with HCSC, one of the largest health insurance providers in the U.S., and an opportunity to expand the relationship in the future to further support HCSC's hybrid IT requirements across QTS' broader footprint.
HCSC will leverage QTS expertise in data center management, information security, compliance and Hybrid IT solutions.
QTS established a similar relationship in 2014 through a strategic partnership with S&P Global, formally known as McGraw Hill Financial, a leading provider of analytics and data to the capital and commodity markets worldwide.
Williams added, "QTS' commitment to developing fully-integrated solutions is helping to unlock insource to outsource opportunities with enterprises who need to increase data center efficiency and performance without compromising security or compliance. Through QTS, highly regulated industries such as health care and financial services, partner with QTS with confidence that we can support their current and future IT needs."
QTS opened its first mega data center in the Dallas-Irving market in late 2014. QTS' continued build-out of the 700,000 gross sq ft facility to accommodate customer demand demonstrates its strong execution in a key Tier 1 data center market. QTS' latest purchase of additional capacity announced today in one of the strongest demand markets in the U.S. gives the company the immediate ability to continue to meet customer requirements for added data center services and solutions. In addition, the former HCSC facility is located 20 miles from QTS' current facility in Irving, Texas, enabling the company to leverage a dual footprint in-market to deliver an enhanced high availability solution to customers.