US construction firm Swinerton Builders has signed a US$50m contract with Telecom Real Estate Services (TRES) to build a data center in Las Vegas. Swinerton will convert an existing warehouse facility into a data center for TRES.

This will be a fully managed wholesale facility where customers with large data center environments will be able to build out their own data center space. The build will provide four 1.2MW blocks of critical power in Phase I and total physical capacity for about 1,100 IT racks.

Dave Higgins, Jr., senior VP and manager of Swinerton's Critical Facilities division, said the project will require a unique scope of services under exacting conditions and on an aggressive schedule. “We are very excited to demonstrate our unique capabilities in a collaborative manner with the TRES team,” he said.

TRES is a developer for H-R Reit, a Canadian real estate investment trust valued at $10bn. Kevin Keating, the development company's CEO, said the time was right for a product that appealed to large customers who wanted to control their environments.

“Customers can rent space ready for data center improvements or the space can be completely built, ready for racks to be installed,” he said. “If you have a large requirement of 1000-plus kW of power, customers have complete flexibility.”

The project involves removal of an existing wooden roof structure, replacing it with a steel structure designed to support cooling infrastructure, according to Swinerton. The design of the facility will be modular, which should allow potential tenants to use custom direct/indirect air handlers.