H5 Data Centers has broken ground on a new data center in Ashburn, Virginia after demolishing the data center previously located there.

The company this week commenced construction on a 42MW, three-story data center that will span 255,000 square feet (23,690 sqm).

The facility, located at Beaumeade Circle in Loudoun County, is available for pre-leasing with the first phase of development set to go live in Q3 of 2024.

“H5 Data Centers is investing extensively across our portfolio and today's announcement of our Ashburn groundbreaking is an exciting start to a busy year of development,” said Josh Simms, founder and CEO of H5 Data Centers. “Upon completion, the data center will provide our customers with the ability to meet their stringent security and reliability requirements.”

H5 operates more than three million square feet of data center space in 20 US markets. Last year, it bought seven Vxchnge data centers across the US totaling more than 250,000 sq ft (23,200 sqm) as well as the 505 Marquette carrier hotel in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It also applied to renovate a Cleveland data center. In 2021 it announced a 20,000 sq ft, 3MW expansion at its Atlanta data center, and acquired a data center in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The company previously operated one facility in Ashburn at 21800 Beaumeade Circle; the 70,000 sq ft (6,500 sqm) facility was bought from DBT Data in 2015. The address for the new data center on H5’s website matches the older facility, with no mention of an existing building; DCD has reached out to H5 for confirmation on whether the company is expanding the campus or is demolishing & rebuilding the old building.

Update: A H5 spokesperson has confirmed the old facility has been demolished to make way for the new development.