Huge Leasing Wins for DFT in Santa Clara and NJ

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An aerial view of the DuPont Fabros NJ1 data center in Piscataway, New Jersey. A Fortune 25 tenant has leased space in NJ1. (Photo: DuPont Fabros Technology.)

DuPont Fabros Technology (DFT) has leased more than 11.7 megawatts of data center space across its portfolio, the company said today. Based on its leasing success, the data center developer has boosted its revenue guidance for Wall Street, and purchased land for a major expansion in suburban Chicago.

The latest deals bring good news in Silicon Valley and New Jersey, several markets where DFT has experienced slower leasing and more competition than expected. The company also leased space in a recently renovated facility in Reston, Virginia.

DuPont Fabros said it has leased 6.83 megawatts of space in its Santa Clara, Calif. data center to an "existing super wholesale Fortune 50 customer." This tenant leased 2.28 MW of load in Phase I of the Santa Clara facility, known as SC1. The lease means that phase 1 of SC1 is now completely leased. In addition, the customer pre-leased 4.55 MW of critical load in the next phase of SC1, providing an anchor tenant.

This has allowed DuPont Fabros to commence construction on the second phase of the data center, which features 9.1 megawatts of power and will be known as Phase IIA. The Santa Clara facility will eventually include another 9.1 megawatts of space, apparently to be Phase IIB. The new space in Santa Clara is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2014.

Major Tenant in New Jersey

DuPont Fabros also signed a major new customer for its facility in Piscataway, New Jersey where the pace of leasing had been a concern to Wall Street analysts following the company. A Fortune 25 company has leased 2.28 megawatts of space at the Piscataway facility, known as NJ1. The new tenant also has an option on the remaining space in phase 1 of NJ1, which totals about 4.5 megawatts of critical load. That requirement can be shifted into a second phase of NJ1 if another tenant comes along and wants to lease space in Phase I - an arrangement that provides expansion capacity for the Fortune 25 tenant, while allowing DFT to continue leasing efforts in New Jersey.

DuPont Fabros had not included revenue from any new leases at NJ1 in its revenue projections for 2013. As a result of the NJ lease, and the new leasing in Santa Clara, DFT has boosted its revenue guidance for Wall Street, increasing its guidance on Funds from Operations from the prior range of $1.82 to $1.92 per share to $1.88 to $1.92 per share.

One new lease in Reston, Virginia  for 2.60 megawatts of critical load with a lease term of 5.1 years. The Reston facility is now 71 percent leased and commenced, up from 51 percent. DuPont Fabros recently renovated the lobby of the building to better support its data center customers.

"We have remained consistently focused on leasing our available inventory and are pleased to announce this significant execution towards our goal," said Hossein Fateh, President and CEO of DuPont Fabros. "Our overall operating portfolio is now 94 percent leased and 93 percent commenced.  The newly acquired land in Chicago enables us to capture future demand in one of our best markets and expand upon our campus environment."

DuPont Fabros said it has acquired 15 acres of vacant land in Elk Grove Village, Illinois to develop a second data center facility. The company's CH1 data center in Elk Grove Village is a 450,000 square foot, 36 megawatt facility that is now fully leased.