US data center firm QTS has acquired more land in Phoenix, Arizona.
Citing Maricopa County property records, BizJournal reports the Blackstone-owned company acquired 206 acres in the West Valley for $246.8 million in an all-cash deal in July from TGV Investments LLC.
Located at the southwest corner of Avondale Boulevard and Lower Buckeye Road, the land sits in a federally designated opportunity zone at the overall Hermosa Ranch Technology Campus in Avondale. It is just north of a planned Prime campus.
QTS said in a statement to the Business Journal that it looks forward to continuing its investment in the greater Phoenix area to "meet growing demand from our customers in the market as we expand our footprint."
"Data centers require thousands of skilled workers to design, construct, and operate. We choose markets like Phoenix because of access to a highly skilled and motivated workforce," the company said.
TGV first filed to rezone the land for its long-planned Hermosa Ranch Tech Campus back in 2021. Despite concerns from city staff, Avondale City Council rezoned the site and unanimously approved a major general plan amendment in May. TGV had previously filed to allow a data center totaling 1. 3 million sq ft (120,775 sqm) on the site.
There is currently a dairy farm on the property site in conjunction with agricultural uses, and surrounding residential properties. The site has largely been used as a ranch or farmland throughout its history.
QTS currently has two other Phoenix campuses; an 85-acre, 280MW campus at 1200 40th Street; and a 288,000 sq ft (26,755 sqm), 32MW site at 120 East Van Buren Street.
The company recently filed for a massive 750MW campus in the Glendale area of Phoenix. The company aims to develop 16 buildings – each around 180,000 sq ft (16,720 sqm)– totaling around 3 million sq ft (278,710 sqm) on the 375-acre property, located north of Camelback Road and west of the Loop 303 along Cotton Lane.
Phoenix is a major data center hub, particularly in the Mesa area. Companies including EdgeCore, Meta, Novva, Apple, CyrusOne, NTT, Stack, Stream, Prime, Aligned, Iron Mountain, Vantage, Compass, QTS, EdgeConneX, Expedient, and H5 are all present. Microsoft operates a cloud region out of the area. Amazon is planning two campuses in Mesa, while landowner Pacific Proving is also planning to develop a large campus in the state.
