Digital Realty Trusty has broken ground on a fourth data center on its campus in Ashburn, Virginia.

The two-story 214,000 sq ft data center will ultimately contain ten 1.125MW data center pods. It will significantly expand Digital’s space inventory in one of the country’s hottest data center markets.

Local and state government officials were evidently ecstatic about the project, expecting it to provide an economic boost to Loudoun County, where the data center campus is located. Senator Mark Herring, as well as two county supervisors attended the ceremony.

Michel Foust, CEO at Digital, said the company’s strategy was to have readily available inventory in all top data center markets.

“With our existing facilities nearly fully leased within the Ashburn campus, we expect the timely delivery of this new space a year from now to satisfy customers' data center requirements for the foreseeable future,” Foust said.

The company is planning to complete building shell and core by the end of 2012. It expects to bring the first three pods online in the second quarter of 2013.

Digital operates as a real estate investment trust, or REIT. The company reported a revenue of US$1.1bn for 2011.

Its portfolio includes more than 100 properties, comprising more than 19m sq ft as of late April. The company’s data centers are located in 31 markets throughout North America, Europe and Asia.