APAC real estate firm ESR Cayman is planning to develop a new 20MW data center in West Tokyo, Japan.
The company announced this week it has acquired a data center asset in Higashi Kurume, in the Mitaka area of Tokyo.
The site currently comprises three office buildings within a total site area of 20,900 sqm (225,00 sq ft); the new 20MW facility is expected to commence operations in September 2025.
“As the largest New Economy real estate platform in APAC, ESR continues to accelerate the expansion of our digital infrastructure ecosystem across APAC. We are tremendously excited to announce our latest data center project in such a prime location in Tokyo following our acquisition of a multi-phase 98MW development project in Nanko, Osaka in 2021,” said Jeffrey Shen and Stuart Gibson, ESR Co-founders and Co-CEOs. “As a Group, we will continue to leverage our hyperlocal presence that provides unparalleled access to unique land sourcing, zoning and power approvals as well as best-in-class development expertise to differentiate ourselves from our peers.”
Diarmid Massey, CEO, Data Centres of ESR, added: “Tokyo is the primary hub for international firms to access the Japan market. Japan remains as one of the largest data center markets in the APAC region and hence a highly important strategic market for ESR.”
Traditionally focused on logistics real estate, in the last 18 months ESR has made a number of investments in the data center space. It has plans to build a data center ecosystem across the region - buying a data center in Oska in April 2021, which it plans to develop into a three-facility campus. It also plans to convert a cold storage facility in Hong Kong into a 40MW data center.
Last year ESR shareholders approved the $5.2 billion acquisition of ARA Asset Management. ARA has a data center footprint through its LOGOS Group subsidiary, which recently partnered with Pure Data Centres for a 20MW facility in Indonesia and was planning more across APAC.
The company said the ESR Group has a combined data center pipeline of over 1,200MW of capacity across the region.
Devashish Gupta, CIO, Data Centres of ESR, highlighted: “With its proximity to existing availability zones and excellent connectivity to city-wide fiber networks, the Higashi Kurume site is a preferred location for multiple DC uses, including hyperscale, wholesale and retail colocation. The new data center will provide additional capacity to support the existing community of enterprises that plan to expand their presence in West-Central Tokyo as well as enable access for new market entrants.”
