Wholesale colocation provider Digital Realty Trust has signed lease agreements with the first two tenants for its new data center complex in Richardson, Texas, a Dallas suburb. One of the two unnamed customers is a Fortune 500 firm and the other is a provider of IT services, according to a Digital news release.

The expansion in Dallas enables the Datacenter Park's owners to capitalize on the high demand and shortage of supply in the Dallas market - one of the major hot spots for data center activity in the US. Digital bought 60 percent in the joint venture acquisition of the 69-acre property in September 2009. Data center development began at the site as soon as the property was acquired.

The company did not disclose how much space the new tenants took.

Digital has been one of very few companies able to finance new data center construction in today's tough capital market and take advantage of the high demand for data center space in the US.

"Our current development efforts are focused on building out the first turn-key data centers - to provide customers with move-in-ready data centers - as well as finishing powered-base (only) building space for customers that want to do final build-out themselves," Digital's VP of Global Sales Brent Behrman said in a statement. "The site's size, power, location and flexibility make it very attractive for companies pursuing data center projects."

The park includes seven buildings, whose size ranges from 15,000 square feet to 250,000 square feet. The buildings' total footprint is about 800,000 square feet. The site has its own 40 MW substation, with potential to expand capacity up to 125 MW.