A former Bankwest data center in Perth, Australia, has been sold for AU$6.4 million (US$4.23m) and will be converted into a storage facility.
Known as the Gateway Commercial strata building, the facility is located at 148a Adelaide Terrace through to 199 Hay Street and spans 3,400 sqm (36,597 sq ft). The building is made up of 32 strata but has been sold as a single facility.
“The buyers plan to convert the building to a storage unit facility to be operated by Storage King,” Stephen Harrison, a selling agent from RWC WA, which represented the building, said.
“East Perth is Western Australia’s highest density precinct, creating a high demand for storage units.”
The building has reportedly been vacant for nearly 10 years, having previously been a data center for Commonwealth Bank subsidiary, Bankwest.
In 2010, Bankwest signed on to become the first official customer of Fujitsu's free-cooled data center in Perth. At the time, Bankwest's CIO Andy Weir said that it would be consolidating and migrating its critical systems into the new facility over the next 12 to 18 months.
Bankwest is also a known user of IBM's z14 mainframes. According to a 2022 IBM case study, the mainframes are hosted in two locations - one for production and development, and the other for disaster recovery.
