UK MSP Lunar Digital has acquired a data center in Manchester that Equinix is exiting in the coming months.

Manchester-based Lunar Digital, which provides data center, managed cloud, and cyber security solutions, this week announced it has acquired Reynolds House, a leased Equinix facility in Manchester currently known as MA2.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The company said the 2,090 sqm (22,500 sq ft), 3MW site will officially be renamed Lunar1 and Lunar2.

Robin Garbutt, CEO of Lunar Digital, said: “We’re very excited to announce that we’ve completed the acquisition of the Equinix data center in Reynolds House. The acquisition will ensure client colocation capacity in one of the most highly demanded-markets within the UK. The demand for premium data center capacity in Manchester continues to be highlighted and we are proud to be playing our part in supporting its continued growth.”

According to Equinix brochures, MA2 offers 20,500 sq ft (1,900 sqm) of colocation space across three floors and around 1.5MW of capacity. The facility was opened in 2006 by local firm Internet Facilitators, before the company was acquired by MSP Attenda in 2007 and then again by Telecity in July 2010; Equinix bought Telecity and took over the data center in 2015.

Equinix announced it was exiting MA2 data center in late 2021. The company said the facility would close in June 2023 at the end of the current lease as the site no longer met its evaluation criteria.

Including MA2, Equinix currently operates five data centers in Manchester. According to Equinix’s earnings presentations, MA1, MA2, MA3, and MA4 are all leased facilities.

In October 2021, Equinix announced plans for a new data center in Manchester, known as MA5. Phase 1 of the new facility – opened last year – provides 3,600 sqm (38,750 sq ft) of colocation space. At full build-out, the site in Salford is expected to provide 6,480 sqm (69,750 sq ft) of colocation space.

Part of the Lunar Group and founded last year, Lunar Digital currently operates two other data centers; Lunar 3 in east Manchester and the 650 sqm Lunar 4 in Gaupne, Norway which is also used to mine crypto for the group’s Lunar Blockchain unit.