The Carter Validus real estate investment trust (REIT) has bought a brace of data centers in McLean, Virginia for $85 million, adding up to 85,000 sq ft (around 8,000 sq m) of raised floor area. 

The two buildings, both of which are currently occupied by telecoms companies, is the latest in a continuing splurge of acquisitions by the trust, whose full name is Carter Validus Mission Critical REIT II.  This year so far Carter Validus has bought an AT&T facility in California, sites in Georgia and Michigan, and a site in Tenessee which isn’t fully built yet.

carter validus mclean level 3 building
McLean 1: Level 3 data center acquired by Carter Validus  – Google

Gotta buy them all?

“We believe this acquisition exemplifies our ability to secure mission critical data centers in strong markets backed by industry-leading tenants under long-term leases. The McLean Data Center Portfolio is an important and high quality addition to our growing data center portfolio,” said Michael Seton, president of Carter Validus.

McLean I is a two-story colocation data center, with a total space of 66,000 sq ft, including 45,000 sq ft of colocation space, powered by an N+1 design with redundant UPS and a battery bank.

Around 95 percent of the building is currently leased to Level 3, with filings at Street Insider revealing the lease will run till 2033, with a base rent of $2.9 million at the time of acquisition. 

carter validus windstream paetec mclean virginia
McLean II: Windstream/PAETEC building acquired by Carter Validus  – Google

McLean II is a three-story colocation data center, with a total of 62,000 sq ft of space, including 40,000 sq ft of white space. The facility has ”near-2N cooling tower and chiller redundancy, with redundant 2N power for both A and B sides, with automatic failover. 

This building is 100 percent leased to PAETEC Communications, a Windstream subsidiary, for around $3.3 million per year, with the least due to expire in 2024.