Patrinely Group, a real estate investment manager, through its newly formed company Corscale Data Centers, is developing a new 306-megawatt, 1.1 million sqft data center campus on a 129.8-acre land plot that it currently controls in Gainesville, Virginia, part of Prince William County, which will ultimately be known as the Gainesville Crossing Data Campus (GCDC). Notably, Patrinely Group is partnering with USAA Real Estate on the development project, with both firms being backed by Paxion Capital and The Wolff Company, amongst others.
Gainesville Crossing Data Campus (GCDC) – Patrinely Group and Corscale
Patrinely Group’s Gainesville Crossing Data Campus (GCDC) is located at 13700 University Boulevard in Gainesville, Virginia. The property is situated on the south side of Lee Highway (Route 29), east of University Boulevard, west of Pageland Lane, and on the north side of Interstate 66 (I-66).
Development
Patrinely Group intends to develop 5 new two-story data center buildings, which together will comprise 306 megawatts of power capacity, 1.1 million sqft of data hall space, and 2.3 million gross sqft (GSF). Below is a breakdown of the five buildings that Patrinely Group’s Corscale Data Centers will eventually operate:
| Data Center | Megawatts | Data Hall | GSF |
| Building 1 | 72 | 230k | 503k |
| Building 2 | 72 | 288k | ~600k |
| Building 3 | 54 | 210k | ~440k |
| Building 4 | 36 | 119k | ~250k |
| Building 5 | 72 | 237k | ~500k |
| Total | 306 | 1.1m | 2.3m |
As shown above, the five data centers on the Gainesville Crossing Data Campus (GCDC) will each offer between 36 and 72 megawatts of power capacity. Within these buildings, Corscale Data Centers anticipates offering 9-megawatt data halls with dedicated infrastructure.
Phasing
By the summer of 2022, Patrinely Group plans to deliver Building 1 on its Gainesville data center campus, which will comprise 72 megawatts of power capacity across 230k sqft of data hall space.
Overall, Corscale Data Centers will offer future facilities on a shell & core or fully powered basis.
Power
Patrinely Group is partnering with Dominion Energy, an electric utility company, to power the future Gainesville data center campus with 300 MVA of utility service. Specifically, the utility company is building an on-site dedicated substation on the southern portion of the land parcel. By Q4 2022, Dominion Energy expects to deliver the first 75 MVA of capacity, which will likely be sourced out of a nearby Gainesville substation.
In terms of energy efficiency, Corscale Data Centers targets a power usage effectiveness (PUE) ratio of less than 1.25 for the Gainesville Crossing Data Campus (GCDC).
Land Transfer
Per Prince William County’s Real Estate Assessments Office, the 129.8-acre land parcel was acquired, in July 2020, by GCDC Purchaser LLC, an entity of The Wolff Company for $74.5m ($574k per acre) from Gainesville GGP, an entity of Buchanan Partners.
Prior to this transfer of ownership, in December 2019, the site was rezoned from Agricultural (A-1), to Planned Business District (PBD), to allow for a mix of commercial uses, including data centers. Overall, the intensity of development for data center use permits a floor area ratio (FAR) of up to 0.6.
Corscale Data Centers – Management Team
Patrinely Group lists Stuart Levinsky, Nic Bustamante, and Jocelyn McCaslin as part of its data center team, with its development platform being Corscale Data Centers.
- Stuart Levinsky: Senior Vice President, Data Center Sales & Marketing at Corscale Data Centers. His background includes sales positions at Iron Mountain Data Centers, Switch, CyrusOne, and Cincinnati Bell
- Nic Bustamante: Senior Vice President, Data Center Development at Corscale Data Centers. His background includes managerial positions at Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Rackspace
- Jocelyn McCaslin: Vice President, Data Center Sales & Leasing at Patrinely Group. Her background includes sales positions at Switch, RagingWire, CenturyLink and IO Data Centers
Notably, the www.corscale.com domain currently forwards to Patrinely Group’s website.
Financial Sponsors – Gainesville Crossing Data Campus (GCDC)
Gainesville Crossing Data Campus’ direct financial sponsors are Patrinely Group and USAA Real Estate, who are managing the development project. Both of these firms have partnered together on real estate investments for over 30 years. Structurally, in prior investments, the limited partner (LP) equity for development projects has been funded by USAA Real Estate and managed by Patrinely Group’s funds (e.g., the Crimson Real Estate Fund).
Ultimately, both Patrinely Group and USAA Real Estate have significant financial backing from Paxion Capital, a private investment group owned by Jim Davidson (co-founder of Silver Lake) and Fritz H. Wolff (The Wolff Company). Below is further detail on these financial sponsors and their intertwined ownership structures.
Patrinely Group
Patrinely Group is a Houston, Texas-headquartered commercial real estate investment manager and developer focused on U.S. markets. Specifically, the firm invests in the sectors of office, data center, industrial/logistics, multifamily, and mixed-use properties. Since 1983, Patrinely Group has completed $15bn in transactions across these real estate asset classes.
USAA Real Estate
USAA Real Estate is a San Antonio, Texas-headquartered private real estate investment company which acquires, develops, finances, and manages real estate assets in North America and Europe. As of June 30, 2021, USAA Real Estate had $32.7bn in assets under management (AUM), on a gross basis. A portion of this AUM derives from managing a portfolio of real estate investments for United Services Automobile Association (USAA), a financial services company.
In April 2020, USAA sold a “controlling interest” in USAA Real Estate to the company’s management and Paxion Capital (i.e., Jim Davidson and Fritz H. Wolff). As such, USAA Real Estate is now majority-owned by entities controlled by Jim Davidson, Fritz H. Wolff, Len O’Donnell (USAA Real Estate’s CEO and President), and Craig Solomon (Managing Principal at Square Mile Capital Management).
Paxion Capital
In November 2020, Paxion Capital acquired a “significant stake” in Patrinely Group. Additionally, Paxion Capital’s co-founders, Jim Davidson and Fritz H. Wolff, as well as Len O’Donnell (USAA Real Estate’s CEO and President), invested directly in the transaction.
As part of Paxion Capital’s acquisition, it noted that Patrinely Group would “launch its next stage of dynamic growth” which would include “a shared focus on the intersection of real estate and technology” – which may be a reference to data centers. Moreover, Paxion Capital will “provide access to capital and opportunity on a scale that is transformational for Patrinely Group”.
The Wolff Company
The Wolff Company is a Scottsdale, Arizona-headquartered real estate development and private equity firm, which focuses on multifamily properties. Founded over 70 years ago, The Wolff Company has raised more than $4.0bn in discretionary capital through its various funds.
