Real estate investment trust QTS Realty is planning a $78m expansion of its Las Colinas data center, in the Northwestern suburb of Dallas.

The technical space currently takes up 300,000 sq ft (27,870 sq m) of the 700,000 (65,030 sq m) former Amtel Corp. semiconductor manufacturing plant, which the trust bought in 2013 along with the 40 acre site it is located on, and was opened in 2014.

Hefty growth

Irving, Texas
Irving, Texas – Thinkstock

The expansion will reportedly see the completion of existing data halls and another building being built, construction permit tracking company BuildZoom told Dallas News.

Founded in 2003 when it bought a single small facility in the state of Kansas, QTS owns, operates or manages over 5m sq ft (464,500 sq m) of data center space in North America, Europe and Asia.

The company’s growth has been fueled mostly by mergers and acquisitions, including its $326m merger with Carpathia Hosting, and buying DuPont Fabros’ New Jersey data center and VMware’s Government Cloud business.

Earlier this year, the trust bought a 260,000 sq ft (24,150 sq m) from Health Care Services for $50m, adding a second “mega” facility to its Dallas portfolio.