A Phoenix, Ariz., private equity firm Global Datacenter Trust began developing a new colocation facility in its hometown earlier this week.

Carrier-neutral Phoenix NAP will provide 20MW of redundant power on 160,000 square feet of floor space, according to a company statement.

The building is located near several carrier facilities operated by Time Warner, AGL, Level 3, AboveNet, Qwest and others, Phoenix NAP Director of Operations Jordan Jacobs said.

Situated just one quarter of a mile away from an electrical substation, operated by Salt River Project - one of Arizona's largest utilities - power will run from the substation to the facility "along two different geographic paths." N+1 modular chilled-water plants and N+4 CRAC units will cool the IT equipment.

A former manufacturing plant the facility will feature redundant meet-me vaults and a concrete-encased cross-connect room within a steel-encased meet-me room.

"They made batteries for the government," Jacobs said. "They vacated and ... left the most amazing building for a data center."

The front of the building has been used for office space and the back of it is a large warehouse with 35-foot ceilings, which Phoenix NAP - Global's subsidiary - will be converting into two stories of colocation space.

"The other part of this is we're located five minutes (away) from the airport and right across the street from us are four hotels." The company chose Phoenix as a location because its government and its workforce were "highly supportive of of the high-tech industry" and because the city was in a "disaster-free area."

Phoenix NAP plans to complete the project by the end of first quarter of 2010, Jacobs said. He did not wish to disclose the project's cost.