400 Paul Avenue, in Bayview, San Francisco will soon become the location of the city’s first data center in almost two decades, as a real estate fund manager and a data center developer and operator have partnered up on the ambitious project. 

Fifteenfortyseven Critical Systems Realty and CIM bought the land from The Cambay Group, whose intention was to sell it as data center real estate, and had thus already secured the necessary authorizations from local authorities. 

Taking a chance

Despite the high cost of leasing in San Fransisco, mostly due to high energy costs, Todd Raymond, fifteenfortyseven’s CEO and managing director told DCK he is convinced that the Fog City is brimming with demand for local data center space. 

In fact, the New Jersey based company reportedly has over a dozen companies interested, from hyperscale cloud providers and social media companies to managed cloud, retail colocation and international telecoms.

The two story, 187,000 sq ft (17,370 sq m) building will be equipped with a 12MW P&G power feeder, and will be built adjacent to two three-story buildings dating back to the 1930s already on site, amounting to approximately 54,000 sq ft (5,000 sq m) which will serve as office space for clients once the data center is up and running. 

Futher, 200 Paul Avenue, the next property along, is a local peering hub. 

Although they have yet to secure an anchor tenant, as the project is already fully funded, the partners have decided to go ahead with construction without having secured an anchor tenant, but are hoping to do so before procuring debt financing further down the line.