Digital Realty Acquires 13-acre property in Ashburn

Washington Business Journal Reports that Digital Realty acquired a 13-acre property for $28 million. That puts the cost per acre at $2.14 million, which is a record in the region. The property was a former Airbus facility and is adjacent to the Equinix Ashburn Campus.

Washington Business Journal Article:

Airbus Americas has sold a 13-acre property in Ashburn to one of the world’s largest data center providers for what appears to be a record price per acre.

On the heels of its design-build lease deal for a new, 250,000-square-foot building in Sterling’s Northwoods Industrial Park, Airbus has dispatched 21780 Filigree Court to a subsidiary of San Francisco-based Digital Realty Trust LP (NASDAQ: DLR), according to public records. The price: $28 million, or $2.14 million per acre.

Land in the planet’s most competitive data center market has been selling for north of $1 million per acre for several years. In July 2018, Denver-basedCologixpurchased 22.6 acres in Ashburn from Christian Fellowship Church for $38 million, or $1.68 million per acre. That was thought, at the time, to be the peak of the market.

The $2 million threshold is one that, as far as we know, the county had yet to top.

According to Loudoun County’s database, the Filagree Court property has an assessed value of $12.9 million — $5.7 million for the land and $7.2 million for a 124,000-square-foot flex warehouse occupied by Airbus subsidiary Satair Group. The site, near the intersection of the Loudoun County Park and Waxpool Road, is in the heart of Loudoun's data center alley....