CoreSite: Atlanta AT2

CoreSite Realty is a data center REIT with a focus on network dense buildings. The company operates the Any2 Peering Exchange, which is the largest Internet Exchange in the Western US.

CoreSite History

CoreSite Realty Corporation was founded in 2001 as CRG West, a portfolio company of The Carlyle Group. CRG West initially started with two data center buildings; One Wilshire in Los Angeles and 55 South Market in San Jose. The buildings were popular network interconnection and peering points. Although 55 S Market has declined as an interconnection point, One Wilshire continues to be a popular building for network interconnection.

2007: Sold the Company's Jewel to Fuel Expansion

In August, the company sold the One Wilshire Building to Hines REIT for $287 million. The large transaction gave CRG West additional capital to fund the company's growth into new markets.

In May, CRG West acquires buildings in Chicago (for $34 million) and Sommerville just outside of Boston. The Chicago building at 427 S LaSalle was originally designed and built by Western Union. Western Union buildings have traditionally been converted into Carrier Hotels because the telegraph infrastructure with their risers of conduits works well for the telecom industry. The facility is situated across from One Financial Plaza and adjacent to the Chicago Board of Trade.

CoreSite Boston at 70 Innerbelt Road, Somerville, MA is located less than two miles from downtown Boston and Cambridge. The large building has SunGard and Internap as significant tenants also offering colocation

2008: Added Reston

CRG West acquired their Reston facility at 12100 Sunrise Valley.

2009: Rebranded

CRG West rebranded as CoreSite.

2010: IPO added More Capital to Expand

In September, CoreSite became publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: COR). The Carlyle Group still owned ~50% of the newly public company at the time of the IPO. The Carlyle Group has since reduced their ownership to less than 30%.

2012 Added Denver

In April, CoreSite acquired Comfluent and their two Denver data centers. The data centers were small, but pivotal to the Denver Interconnection and Peering Market. DE1 is located in 910 15th Street, Denver's Telecom Hotel, the Denver Gas & Electric Building (DGEB.) Comfluent was the defacto meet me room for the building. DE2 was 639 E 18th Ave, which was adjacent to Level 3's Denver Gateway site.

CoreSite was headquarted in Denver, but until 2012 did not have any data centers in Colorado.

2013

SV5 was built and leased to a single tenant

2014: New Buildings

• VA2 launched with an initial build of 50,000 of 198,000 sqft
• NY2 launched with an initial build of 65,000 of 283,000 sqft

2016: Change at the Top

Tom Ray, CoreSite's CEO since inception retired. Paul Szurek became CoreSites new CEO.

In August, Sunrise Technology Park (STP) was acquired for $60 million with a plan to significantly expand the campus.

Reston Campus Expansions

12100 Sunrise Valley was first acquired in 2008 and CoreSite has since turned the Reston site into a campus. The company constructed a building (VA2) in the parking lot. In 2018, Coresite acquired a 22-acre lot a few blocks away at 12379 Sunrise Valley Drive. The lot will serve to virtually expand the Reston Campus.

The development has four phases and involves building new 3-story data centers and demolishing the old buildings. CoreSite has begun work on VA3 on the new lot.