CBRE Investment Management has received local governmental rezoning and approval for the expansion of its data center in Chandler, Ariz., the Phoenix Business Journal reported.
Under the plan approved by the Chandler city council, the facility located at 2500 W. Frye Road in the East Valley of metro Phoenix will be expanded by 243,000 square feet. Its current size is roughly 150,000 square feet.
CBRE IM could not be reached for further information.
Interestingly, the building currently on the 16.4-acre site came online in 1988 and used as an office building by Bank of America; its conversion into a data center occurred in 2008. CBRE Global Investors acquired it in 2019 for $72.8 million, according to CommercialEdge information.
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The three-story expansion building will rise on an underused parking lot. Gensler designed the project, while Kimley-Horn & Associates Inc. will handle landscaping.
As part of the project, the nearby Salt River Project substation currently powering the data center will also be expanded. In addition, the owner will replace the entire facility’s old water-cooling system with an electric air-cooling method.
Data in the desert
In May, QTS Realty Trust announced plans to develop a 3-million-square-foot data center campus in Glendale, Ariz. The 375-acre QTS PHX 3 project could include up to 16 buildings of about 180,000 square feet each.
QTS acquired the property, north of Camelback Road and west of Loop 303 along Cotton Lane, for $255.3 million in July 2022 from First Industrial Realty Trust.
Major considerations for data center development this year include innovative, energy-efficient approaches to powering and cooling these projects, according to a CBRE 2024 market outlook. In fact, some construction timelines have been delayed by as much as 24 to 72 months because of difficulties in securing adequate power supplies.
Demand for new data centers is expected to attract greater institutional investment, while the forecast for development in primary U.S. markets is about 3,000 MW.
