Texas based Stream Data Centers has sold a 30,000 square foot data center to a local financial services company and then been immediately hired to run it. Stream’s ownership of the Richardson (Texas) facility has been transferred, but its services have been retained for run the 7.2 megawatt campus for the client, providing facilities management under the umbrella of its Stream Private Data Center service.

The buyer, believed to be in banking, insurance or financial services, has not been named but is known to be affiliate of online stock trading company TD Ameritrade, according to the Dallas Morning News.

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Stream runs similar contractual agreements in the Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Minneapolis, and Denver markets. The private data center arrangement allows companies to meet any compliance stipulations of owning their assets, while still outsourcing the management of the data and infrastructure.

The trend for small but purpose built single (and sometimes multiple) tenant shells could provide a new opportunity for data center operators in a market where the supply of data center space is less predictable.

Analysts at the commercial property firm Jones Lang LaSalle say the US underwent a high rate of absorption of data center inventory in the 2014. According to its North America Data Center Market Report there was a “small window” in 2014 where supply of data center space was in deficit, which had data center providers “racing” to build out space.

Drivers of the rising demand in this particular Texas data center market have been workforce growth, corporate headquarters relocations, and regional office expansion in the region, according to Jones Lang LaSalle.

The insurance industry is responsible for the biggest portion - 35% - of overall demand for center space.  Other notable demanders of data center space are technology companies, financial services, and the healthcare industry. The banking and financial services sector currently demands one fifth of all data center space on the local market.