Cyxtera breaks the lease of its Moses Lake data center in Washington

Cyxtera has decided to break the lease of the data center it is occupying in Moses Lake, Washington. Cyxtera communicated this decision to the landlord of the site in February 2021. However, Cyxtera will have to pay between $57 - $62 million as a charge for breaking the lease.

The data center in Moses Lake, Washington, has an initial capacity of 5MW, and according to Cyxtera, it can be expanded to 80MW at full build-out. Also, Cyxtera says it will be ending its use of the property in June 2021. However, it has already removed the site as a location on its website.

Cyxtera's Moses Lake statement found in its PRER14A filing:

In February 2021, Cyxtera notified the landlord of the Moses Lake data center site, located in the State of Washington, of its intent to cease the use of the space. Accordingly, Cyxtera accelerated depreciation and amortization of all assets on the site, including favorable leasehold interest amortization, which resulted in additional depreciation and amortization of $0.9 million and additional favorable leasehold interest amortization of $0.3 million during the three months ended March 31, 2021. Cyxtera plans to cease use of the property in June 2021 at which time it expects to meet the conditions for recording a charge related to the remaining lease obligation which is estimated to be between $57 and $62 million. Cyxtera’s management does not anticipate there will be a sublease in place for the data center or any plans to sublease at the time of cease use. Furthermore, Cyxtera’s management believes the ability to sublease the property is remote and as such has not made any assumption for future cash flows from a potential sublease in making this estimate.