US wholesale data center developer and landlord DuPont Fabros has commenced construction of the second phase of its data center in the Chicago metropolitan area.

Raising funds for the second build-out in Elk Grove Village, Illinois (a Chicago suburb), and beginning the project was one of the top 2011 priorities CEO Hossein Fateh laid out for the company in February. The other priorities for the year were to focus on leasing the space that's already built out and on completing two developments at other sites.

The second phase in Chicago, targeted for completion in the first quarter of 2012, will bring online 18.2MW. Half of the phase has been pre-leased in three deals, with leases due to commence in the first quarter of 2012.

DuPont is partially paying for the construction project from funds it raised through a sale of 4.1m shares of preferred stock in March, which generated about US$97.5m. The rest of the cost is covered through borrowing against the company's revolving credit.

The developer announced start of construction in Chicago as it announced its first-quarter 2011 financial results. DuPont reported earnings of $0.15 per share on $68.5m in revenue for the quarter ÔÇô an 87.5% increase in EPS and a 20% quarterly revenue jump year over year.

Fateh said in a statement the company had leased 16MW of critical capacity in 2011 to date, which was about 70% of total capacity it had leased in 2010.

"Also, we remain on time and budget to open our new developments, SC1 Phase I and ACC6 Phase I, in the third quarter of 2011," he added. "These two developments total 31.2 megawatts, representing a 20% increase in our operating portfolio."

SC1 is in Santa Clara, California, and ACC6 is in Ashburn, Virginia.