Data center firm Telehouse has closed the acquisition of new land in London, UK, for data center development.

KDDI Corporation and Telehouse this week announced they have completed the purchase of the Inventory Estate in East London's East India Dock from LaSalle Investment Management and Trilogy Real Estate for more than £220 million ($294m).

Expanding Telehouse’s existing London Docklands campus, the acquisition will support a new high-density, AI-ready data center. The new facility will total 65MW.

Mark Pestridge, managing director, Telehouse Europe, says: “The purchase of the Inventory Estate represents an important step in the long-term development of our London Docklands campus, one of Europe's leading connectivity hubs. It provides space for future expansion to support our customers' digital growth ambitions, including the crucial innovation that is taking place across industries such as healthcare, education, and financial services.

"As demand for AI-ready infrastructure grows, we remain focused on sustainable operations, community engagement, and creating opportunities in the local area.”

News that Telehouse and KDDI had bought the site surfaced back in March, though at the time the company refused to comment on the reports.

The site, located close to Telehouse’s existing Docklands campus at 2 Clove Crescent, currently features two office buildings totaling 483,000 sq ft (44,862 sqm). Planning consent is in place for a 376,000 sq ft (35,000 sqm) data center on the land.

Takayo Takamuro, executive officer, European chief executive, board director, Telehouse, says, “This acquisition supports the next phase of our growth and our commitment to supporting customers’ AI ambitions. The new data center will be one of the largest facilities in the Telehouse London Docklands campus, reinforcing its role as the leading connectivity hub in Europe.”

Opened in the 1990s, Telehouse's London North facility was the first purpose-built carrier-neutral data center in Europe. Today, the site totals six buildings, including the latest Telehouse West Two, which broke ground in October. The nine-story facility is due for completion in 2028.

Chris Lewis, head of UK transactions, LaSalle Investment Management, added: “The extensive refurbishment works undertaken in partnership with Trilogy Real Estate to regenerate East India Dock into a world-class mixed-use innovation campus have paved the way for this next exciting development on the Inventory Estate.

"We look forward to watching its progress as the Docklands are set to host an important AI-ready data center, critical to powering London’s tech sector.”

LaSalle Investment Management, a subsidiary of JLL, is a global real estate investment manager. The firm manages $86.8 billion of assets in private and public real estate equity and debt investments. Trilogy is a real estate developer and asset manager specializing in revitalizing underperforming and stranded assets

Once part of the old East India Company docks, the site was later used to build an office campus in the early 1990s. LaSalle and Trilogy bought the campus from Criterion Capital in 2015 for £170 million ($227m), pivoting it for educational uses. The two firms put the site up on the market last October, reportedly seeking £247.5m ($330.6m) for the education-focused campus.

Telehouse was founded in 1998 and has data centers in London, Frankfurt, Istanbul, Paris, Marseille, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo, Bangkok, Los Angeles, New York, and Toronto.