Macquarie Capital, the investment division of Macquarie Group, today announced that it has made an equity investment in Prime Data Centers, a California-based wholesale data center developer and operator. Presently, Prime Data Centers has three existing campuses in Sacramento, Santa Clara, and Hayward, California. Additionally, the company has a pipeline of data center projects throughout the Americas and Europe.
Macquarie Capital and Prime’s partnership targets capital investments of $5bn+, over the next 10 years, to develop a project pipeline of 400 megawatts of power capacity. Indeed, Macquarie Capital has a long-term investment horizon, allowing Prime to plan for the next 10 to 20 years.
Prime Data Centers – Portfolio Overview
Prime Data Centers is a wholesale data center operator for large enterprises and hyperscale customers. The company delivers multi-megawatt build-to-suit (BTS), powered-shell, and turn-key facilities for these clients.
Through its announced pipeline, Prime Data Centers has 160 megawatts of power capacity available to develop as turn-key, build-to-suit (BTS), and powered shell. Specifically, the company has access to 100 megawatts in Sacramento, 40 megawatts in Santa Clara, and 20 megawatts in Hayward.
Sacramento (2407 Ak St)
Prime Data Centers’ Sacramento campus is located on 38 acres in McClellan Business Park, ~75 miles from the San Francisco Bay Area. At full build-out, the Sacramento campus will offer a total of 100 megawatts of power capacity across three phases. Specifically, Phase 1 represents 20 megawatts, Phase 2 comprises 40 megawatts, and Phase 3 adds 40 megawatts.
To-date, Prime Data Centers has built-out the first building of Phase 1, which consists of 68.5k sqft and up to 8 megawatts of critical power.
Alternative Location to Tier-1 Data Center Markets
Prime Data Centers notes that Sacramento is an attractive alternative to nearby Tier-1 and other proximate data center markets, which are often more expensive. For example, Sacramento can be a substitute for deployments in Reno (Nevada), Portland (including Hillsboro), Seattle, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Network Connectivity
Prime Data Centers’ Sacramento campus offers connectivity to carriers including AT&T, Cogent Communications, Comcast, Consolidated Communications, Lumen Technologies, Telia Carrier, Wave Broadband (Astound Broadband), Windstream, and Zayo.
Santa Clara (1111 Comstock St)
Prime Data Centers’ Santa Clara campus will be delivered turn-key or is available as a powered shell. Specifically, the four-story, 121k sqft building is able to offer 10 megawatts of critical power through N+1 configuration. Alternatively, the site can deliver up to 14 megawatts of critical power via N configuration.
Prime notes that construction of the building began in late 2020 and will be ready for tenants in late 2021.
Expansion Capacity
Notably, through a second Santa Clara facility, Prime Data Centers is able to add another ~26 megawatts of power capacity. Therefore, the company has the ability to deliver 40 megawatts of power capacity in the Santa Clara market.
Hayward (26415 Corporate Ave)
Prime Data Centers’ Hayward campus is a 20-megawatt, two-story building comprising 146k sqft. Importantly, the facility is 100% leased by a Fortune 50 company. Finally, Prime built the property in 2015.
Prime Data Centers – Operational Updates
Prime recently signed build-to-suit (BTS) leases with an initial aggregate capacity of 20 megawatts in Santa Clara and Sacramento, California. Of this total, Prime is currently delivering the first 10 megawatts.
Also, Prime Data Centers is developing several additional projects in the Americas and Europe.
Partnership – Macquarie Capital and Prime Data Centers
Macquarie Capital’s investment in California-based Prime Data Centers is being led by its Infrastructure Investment and Development team, which invests the group’s balance sheet capital. The team focuses on investing in the broader digital infrastructure ecosystem, including towers, data centers, fiber, and small cells.
Recent digital infrastructure transactions by Macquarie Capital include the launch of last-mile fiber provider Accelecom, an investment in UK rural fiber broadband business Voneus Limited, and the acquisition of MÁSMÓVIL’s fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network in Spain, which was re-branded as Onivia.
