Singapore-based real estate investment firm RealVantage is investing in a data center in Minnesota.

The company this week announced its first move into investing in digital infrastructure, allocating $7 million towards a 21MW data center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The data center was acquired by US data center investment firm Cloud Capital and Bahrain asset manager Arcapita earlier this year. The pair aim to expand the site to 31MW.

“The acquisition reflects our conviction in the structural tailwinds driving demand for data centers. It demonstrates our commitment to bringing the structural institutional-grade investment opportunities we seek to deliver for our platform members across global markets,” said Keith Ong, co-founder and group CEO of RealVantage.

RealVantage is a real estate co-investment platform based in Singapore. It allows investors to co-invest in a diversified range of investment-grade real estate.

The data center – 1001 3rd Ave S – was previously owned by Legacy Investing and had been occupied by T5. An AI cloud firm is set to occupy the building.

Established in 2020 as the investment management affiliate of data center operator CloudHQ, Cloud Capital describes itself as a specialized investment management firm focused on acquiring, managing, and operating high-quality data centers.

Founded in 1997, Arcapita is a global alternative investments firm focused on private equity and real estate, with a total transaction value of more than $32 billion. The firm aims to offer Shari’ah-compliant investments to investors across the Gulf and Asia. Its investments include industrial and logistics real estate, senior living residences, legal services, and payment solutions providers.

Built in 1988 and renovated in 2004, 1001 3rd was originally built for IDS as a mainframe and print operations facility. Later known as the Ameriprise Operations Center, it served as a recovery data center site for American Express in the late 1990s. It was sold in 2004 to Western Retail Real Estate Trust, with American Express spin-off Ameriprise Financial remaining a tenant. It was on sale again around 2014, with American Express and Ameriprise exiting. Legacy Investing acquired the site in 2019.