Capitaland leases Manchester data center to Lunar Digital for 15 years

Capitaland Ascendas REIT and Lunar Digital have signed a 15-year lease for the Reynolds House data center in Manchester, UK. The company's intention to acquire Reynold House in the Manchester Technopark was announced for the first time in February 2023, less than a year after Equinix began exit preparations. The facility consists of two data centers with a combined capacity of 3MW that Equinix formerly used.

The two data center facilities, now known as Lunar1 and Lunar2, provide Tier II and Tier III colocation options with over 20 carriers, including the Lunar Connect network. In the upcoming years, Lunar Digital plans to invest an undisclosed sum in modernizing the building, though it has been stated that the sum will be in the seven figures. This will be utilized to enhance its energy efficiency and computational capacity. In addition, the company has set up its Lunar Cloud platform at the site, a multi-tenant cloud solution for Manchester businesses.

The Reynolds House facility was established in 2006 by the local Internet Facilitators, which was subsequently acquired by MSP Attenda in 2007 and Telecity in July 2010; Equinix took over the data center in 2015. In late 2021, Equinix declared it would leave the area formerly known as MA2. The company announced that the facility would close in June 2023, when the current lease expires, because the location no longer fulfilled its evaluation criteria. Lunar Digital, a subsidiary of the Lunar Group founded last year, has expanded its IT footprint in Manchester to more than 35,000 square feet across three facilities. The 15MVA capacity Lunar4 is located in Gaupner, Luster Municipality, Norway.