Data Center Operations

"How to Evaluate a Building for Data Center Conversion" Earlier this week I shared how Chicago developers turned a $12 million office building into a $40 million data center in 15 months. Today, let's talk about what to look for. The Five Critical Factors: 1. Power Infrastructure This is the dealbreaker. Can you increase capacity to 30-50 megawatts? Existing transformers? Proximity to substations? The Chicago building had substantial electrical infrastructure from its trading floor days. Without power capacity, you don't have a deal. 2. Building Structure You need: Wide, column-free floors High ceilings for cooling Floor load capacity for server weight Cavernous layouts The Cboe building was designed for trading floors—which converts perfectly to data centers. 3. Existing Connectivity "This building is very heavily wired from its time as a trading platform," said buyer Daniel English. Look for heavy wiring, fiber proximity, and urban locations near connectivity hubs. 4. Cooling Potential CRE Daily reports liquid cooling is becoming standard as power densities jump from 120 kW per rack today to 600 kW by 2027. Can the building support liquid cooling systems and upgraded HVAC? 5. Urban Location Advantage English explained why urban conversions command premiums: "Just like Amazon last-mile delivery, data centers take less time to deliver when they're close." Low-latency applications—trading, streaming, gaming—pay premiums for urban proximity. The Best Candidates: Former trading floors, financial services buildings, telecom facilities, heavy industrial with power infrastructure. My Take: The Chicago flip proves it: The biggest returns aren't in greenfield development. They're in buying assets where someone else already solved the hard problems and the market hasn't caught up. What building in your market has these five factors? Because while everyone else sees obsolete real estate, you might be looking at a 233% return in 15 months. What are you seeing that others are missing? Sources: "Flip of former Cboe Global Markets headquarters in Chicago shows soaring data storage values" by Ryan Ori, CoStar News, October 23, 2025; "Data Centers Driving Growth In AI And Real Estate" CRE Daily, PrincipalAM research

We're actively negotiating on several data center sites—200MW+ greenfield and brownfield projects, a site ready for new construction, and multiple edge portfolios. The due diligence has been a masterclass. Data center investing isn't real estate anymore. It's a hybrid of real estate, energy, and technology. And if you're a lifelong learner, this is one of the most fascinating spaces to be in right now. -The Basics Everyone Knows- You need land. You need power, fiber, and water. That's the easy part. What qualifies that land is where it gets complex. -Power- It's not just "do you have power?" It's: • What type of power—grid, renewable, on-site generation? • How many redundant sources are available? • What's the timeline to energize—months or years? • What's the cost per MW, and how does it escalate? • Can you secure a PPA that makes the economics work? -Fiber- • How many points of connectivity do you have? • How close is your nearest point of presence (POP)? • Are there dark fiber lines available to light up? • What's the latency to major cloud on-ramps? -Water- • What's the source—municipal, well, reclaimed? • Is it sustainable at scale? • Will local stakeholders oppose the usage? • What are the cooling alternatives if water becomes constrained? Each of these has layers underneath. And that's before you get into the technical due diligence. -Where It Gets Interesting- Once you understand the fundamentals, a whole new world opens up. Alternative power sources—nuclear, SMRs, behind-the-meter solar. Equipment sourcing and lead times for transformers and switchgear. Understanding the energy draw from AI workloads versus traditional compute. The difference between training clusters and inference at the edge. Then there's the structuring: PPAs, offtake agreements, utility negotiations, local stakeholder alignment, tax incentives, and creative financing that makes projects pencil. -Why This Matters- The operators who win in this space won't just be real estate people. They'll be the ones who understand energy markets, technology roadmaps, and how to structure deals that work for utilities, communities, and capital partners simultaneously. Data centers reward curiosity. The more you learn, the more creative you can get—and the better the opportunities you can unlock. We're deep in this right now. It's been one of the steepest learning curves we've taken on, and one of the most rewarding. Who else is navigating the complexity of data center development?

Is your Data Center Baking Clay? Should you be worried about the ground under your data centers feet? I want to highlight the work Mara Zwicker at Substrata has done in visualizing a risk that most of the industry treats as a rounding error. She modeled five real-world sites to see how 100 MW of high-density AI infrastructure interacts with specific geological profiles over two decades. The modeling suggests that our standard approach to site selection often relies on treating the ground effectively as an infinite thermal sink. While this holds for legacy densities, that assumption can break as we move toward concentrated liquid-to-chip architectures with much higher densities combined with BESS solutions etc. In the world of regenerative infrastructure, we have to stop viewing the ground as just a static platform for weight. If you are building for a 30 year horizon, that soil is a thermal battery. Ignoring the "Ground Heat Bulb" doesn't lead to immediate failure, but it introduces long-term friction, with potential MEP misalignment and structural subsidence that cannot be fixed after the fact. Reliability starts at the bedrock, if the local geology can’t disperse the thermal stress of your specific cooling architecture, you aren't managing a Tier III+ facility. Instead, you’re managing an asset where the long-term structural behavior is not understood. This isn't a universal threat, it is highly site-dependent. Granular soils with high conductivity disperse heat effectively, while organic clays or volcanic ash can trap it, leading to the gradual consolidation that threatens high-voltage feeds and coolant piping. Sovereign power requires us to protect the literal foundation of our infrastructure by moving beyond simple weight-bearing capacity to include how that ground behaves thermally over time. It’s ironic that while we build for 24 month GPU cycles we need to potentially consider ground risks that might manifest over 10-30 years. If you'd like to follow Mara's work please visit her here: https://lnkd.in/gu3ZF4CV iMasons Climate Accord Nomad Futurist International Data Center Authority (IDCA) Data Center-Dynamics Adam Knobloch George Rockett Ron Vokoun Jack Pouchet Mui Hoon POH, FSID FSCS FHKIoD Eugene S. Sureel Choksi Harqs Singh Michalis Grigoratos Chris Petersen Rowan Peck John Wallerich Denise Holt Matt Evans James Betts Caterina Giacomelli Andy Hastings MIET Andrew Dewing Adam Kramer w.media Bisnow Rich Miller

Most people are talking about data centers. Our team at Midwest CRE Advisors is actually working them. There are two ways I'm engaged in the Kansas City data center market right now and they couldn't be more different. 1️⃣ Greenfield Sites & the Power Problem Finding raw land for a data center in KC isn't the hard part. The hard part is the utility conversation. How close are you to a substation? What's the available load? What does the interconnection timeline look like with Evergy? Can the site support 20 MW, 50 MW, 75 MW+? Kansas City recently rezoned data centers as industrial facilities, which matters for site selection. But even with the right zoning, the wrong power situation kills a deal before it starts. I'm working with landowners right now who have sites that look ideal on paper, highway access, industrial zoning, right-sized acreage, and my job is to run the utility scenario before anyone wastes time or money. Evergy's pipeline is already over 15 GW in active agreements. The sites that can plug in fast are worth a premium. The ones that can't? You better know that before you buy. 2️⃣ Conversions & Modular Not every data center gets built from the ground up. I'm also engaged on the conversion side, existing industrial and flex buildings that have the bones to become edge or modular data center deployments. Floor load. Clear height. Power access. Fiber proximity. Cooling options. The modular data center market is projected to grow at 17.7% CAGR and a lot of that growth isn't in brand-new hyperscale campuses. It's in adaptive reuse and modular deployments that can be stood up faster, closer to the edge, at lower capital cost. Kansas City's central geography, affordable power rates, and available industrial inventory make it one of the better-positioned markets in the country for this type of deployment. If you have land, a building, or capital that belongs in this conversation, reach out. This market is moving fast and the window for early positioning is closing. 📍 Kansas City

Every billion-dollar data center begins with dirt. The land itself determines the limits of power, scale, and speed. Yet the best parcels today aren’t the cheapest they’re the ones wired for megawatts and milliseconds. A few things define who wins: • Power access: Sites within one mile of substations or transmission corridors. • Fiber connectivity: Low-latency paths to major network exchanges. • Policy alignment: Fast permitting, tax incentives, and community acceptance. Developers are now buying powered land years before construction starts. Others are co-locating next to generation hydro, gas, or nuclear to bypass grid congestion entirely. The model is shifting from single builds to multi-phase “AI corridors,” where power, fiber, and zoning are secured across entire regions. Microsoft’s 2024 Malaysia site captured this logic: a parcel beside a 500MW power plant, tied to new fiber routes, backed by state-level incentives. Data centers are no longer about square footage. They’re about control of electrons, connectivity, and permits. Whoever secures those first defines the next decade of digital infrastructure. Read the article below #datacenters

The data center conversation usually gets dominated by the headlines! 500+ MW campuses. Hyperscale users. Billion-dollar developments. Hundreds of acres. Community push back. I think there’s a very real commercial real estate opportunity in the smaller power bands (3MW to 10MW) That may not sound exciting compared to the massive AI-driven projects being announced across the country, but for the right user, a 3MW to 10MW building can solve a very real problem in the market: Speed. Not every data center user needs 100MW on day one. Some need a building where they can get operational faster and then have the option to scale. Items like: 1. Existing power infrastructure 2. A realistic utility path 3. Zoning that does not create a 24+ month delay 4. Fiber access or a clear connectivity plan 5. A building that can support phased growth 6. A market where occupancy costs still make sense That is where existing commercial real estate becomes interesting. Older industrial buildings. Flex buildings. Mission-critical facilities. Former manufacturing buildings. Sites with heavy power already in place. These assets may not look like “data centers” today, but if the building has the right bones, the right power story, and the right path to cooling and redundancy, it may have a completely different highest and best use than people realize. Here's the thing though, heavy power alone does not make a building a data center candidate. Heavy power, paired with location, fiber, cooling potential, utility coordination, zoning, and expansion ability becomes the golden goose. Based on several conversations recently, the 3MW to 10MW range will continue to matter because it creates a bridge between traditional commercial real estate and the growing demand for compute infrastructure. We are looking at several existing buildings on a weekly basis. Interested in seeing what we are coming across? Reach out. P.S. Geese included in the photo are not the aforementioned "Golden Goose". #DataCenters #CommercialRealEstate #CRE #IndustrialRealEstate #KansasCity

A High-Tech Data Center Is Only as Reliable as Its Ground! Modular data centers are designed with precision to support critical digital infrastructure. These facilities demand an exceptionally stable foundation because even small ground movements can threaten safety and performance. When tolerances are so narrow, relying on standard checks is not enough. The risks that need attention go far beyond routine site investigations. Seismic activity, soil stability, and displacement thresholds must be understood in depth. Each of these factors can only be assessed through advanced geotechnical investigations supported by robust numerical analysis. These methods allow engineers to predict how soils and structures will behave under stress, providing the reliability that modern data centers require. Key risks to be assessed among others: ✅ Differential settlement, which can compromise racks, cabling, and cooling systems even without visible “failures.” ✅ Liquefaction potential in seismically active zones, where saturated soils can lose strength and trigger catastrophic foundation issues. ✅ Groundwater levels and seasonal fluctuations, affecting both construction methodology and long-term operation. ✅ Flood risk, not only from rivers or coasts but also from surface water accumulation in urban environments. The message is is quite clear here: advanced geotechnical expertise is not just a ''good to have'' but serves as the foundation for sustainable, resilient, and long-term digital infrastructure. What's your view, are high-tech companies giving enough weight to these geotechnical requirements? 👉 If you’re involved in hyperscale or modular data centre development and want to ensure subsurface risks are addressed early, feel free to connect with me. More insights in the TheCivilEngineer.org article: ----> https://lnkd.in/dHA8WcqT Christakis Iereidis Senior Geotechnical Professional, Dual MSc degree holder, Cyprus - National Committee Member of Eurocode 7, FEA (Plaxis) qualified trainer Geostruxer. #GeotechnicalEngineering #DataCenters #NumericalAnalysis #GroundConditions #SoilMechanics #FoundationEngineering #CivilEngineering #Geotechnics #RiskMitigation #SoilStability #InfrastructureSafety #EngineeringDesign #ConstructionManagement #SustainableInfrastructure #ResilientDesign Image source: Huawei Digital Power.

Every trillion-dollar data centre starts with one decision: location. Pick it right, and you build efficiency. Pick it wrong, and you burn millions. It’s not just about buying land and plugging in power. It’s about planting it in the right ecosystem where cooling, energy, and connectivity align from day one. Why does location matter? Because every site decision has a long tail. A poor choice means higher energy bills, shorter equipment life, and constant operational firefighting. A good one means lower costs, stable uptime, and better long-term returns. In this space, geography is engineering strategy. How do the pros decide? They start with fundamentals: - Climate and cooling efficiency - Access to renewables - Connectivity and latency paths - Land cost and expansion potential These aren’t just numbers on a sheet. They shape how a facility performs over decades. Urban or rural? - Urban sites offer dense connectivity, but at a premium. - Rural locations offer space and scalability, but longer fiber routes. - The best hyperscalers aim for the middle ground, close to fiber and away from congestion. Top hyperscale hubs today: 1. Northern Virginia – unmatched network density 2. The Dalles, Oregon – powered by clean hydro 3. Hamina, Finland – pioneering seawater cooling 4. Frankfurt – Europe’s digital core 5. Singapore – Asia’s gateway to global data My top three picks for future builds: - Northern Virginia. - The Dalles. - Hamina. Each offers the right mix of power, efficiency, and resilience for the next wave of AI-driven demand. Data centres aren’t just metal and servers. They’re part of the world’s nervous system, carrying every digital signal we depend on. Choosing where to build them isn’t a project decision. It’s a legacy one. P.S. If you could plant a data centre anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?

Site selection decisions made today will determine your competitiveness for the next 20 years. The old playbook focused on finding the cheapest location with enough labor. That approach no longer works. The companies getting site selection right in 2025 are asking completely different questions than they were five years ago. Power has become the primary constraint. What used to take two years or less for electrical upgrades can now take eight years for manufacturers needing 10MW or more. Data centers and factories are competing for the same limited supply, and what were once regional shortages are now nationwide. If your facility requires significant power, your timeline for becoming operational just extended by years. Talent trumps cost, every time. Chasing low-cost geographies made sense when labor was abundant everywhere. It no longer is. Talent shortages are not going away, and competition in cheap markets erodes whatever cost advantage you thought you had. Companies are now prioritizing quality of life and community appeal because that is what attracts and retains the skilled workforce advanced manufacturing requires. Sites near universities, within commuting distance of diverse talent pools, and in communities people actually want to live in are commanding premiums for a reason. Incentives will not save a bad location. Incentives have become a shiny object. They come with strict requirements, and quality sites in desirable areas that meet those requirements are scarce. Too many companies have learned the hard way that eligible properties often do not match what they actually need operationally. Incentives should be treated as an extra benefit, not the primary decision driver. Brownfield is no longer the default. For years, companies favored refurbished facilities for speed and to comply with federal initiatives. Most viable brownfield sites have now been picked over, and refurbishing what remains is often more expensive than building new on greenfield sites. First-generation industrial facilities with a clear pathway to power, or ground-up development on industrial-zoned land, are becoming the smarter play. The real shift: strategic value over short-term savings. The cost of getting this wrong is not just financial. It shows up in your ability to recruit talent, scale operations, adapt to market changes, and stay competitive as technology evolves. A location that saves money upfront but cannot attract the engineers and technicians you need is not a bargain. Site selection used to be a real estate decision. Now it is a business strategy decision that requires understanding workforce dynamics, infrastructure timelines, community alignment, and long-term operational flexibility. If your organization is evaluating a new facility or expansion, the questions worth asking are no longer just about cost per square foot. They are about whether this location positions you to compete, adapt, and grow for the next two decades.

MISSION CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE: THE COMPLETE DATA CENTER BREAKDOWN Most people see a data center and think: “Servers.” In reality, a hyperscale or AI data center is a utility-scale ecosystem engineered to operate 24/7/365 with near-zero downtime. Modern mission critical facilities combine: • Power generation/distribution • Cooling plants • Water systems • Fiber/network infrastructure • Fire/life safety • Automation controls • Cybersecurity • Physical security • Commissioning • QA/QC • Logistics • Operations orchestration All wrapped around compute. A modern AI data center is not a building. It is a privately financed digital utility plant. MISSION CRITICAL BREAKDOWN: 1. SITE SELECTION • Utilities • Fiber routes • Water access • Weather/seismic risk • Grid capacity • Latency requirements 2. POWER INFRASTRUCTURE • Substations • HV/MV distribution • Turbines • BESS systems • Microgrids • Paralleling switchgear 3. ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS • Switchgear • Transformers • UPS systems • STS/ATS • Busway • PDUs/RPPs • Grounding • EPMS 4. MECHANICAL SYSTEMS • Chillers • Cooling towers • CRAH/CRAC units • CDUs • RDHx • Direct-to-chip cooling • Immersion cooling 5. WATER INFRASTRUCTURE • Process/makeup water • Water treatment • Filtration • Leak detection • Chemical treatment 6. NETWORK & FIBER • Carrier connectivity • Meet-me rooms • Spine-leaf architecture • MPO/MTP fiber • Structured cabling 7. FIRE & LIFE SAFETY • VESDA • Clean agent suppression • Pre-action systems • Smoke evacuation • EPO systems 8. CONTROLS & AUTOMATION • BMS • EPMS • SCADA • EMS • PLC controls • Alarm management 9. PHYSICAL SECURITY • CCTV • Biometrics • Mantraps • Access control • SOC operations 10. WHITE SPACE • GPU clusters • AI fabrics • Storage arrays • Network switches • High-density compute 11. OPERATIONS • SOPs • MOPs • EOPs • Incident response • Capacity planning 12. COMMISSIONING • L1-L5 • FAT/SAT • Sequence validation • IST • Failover testing 13. QA/QC • Material verification • Installation inspections • Torque verification • Fiber testing 14. CONSTRUCTION EXECUTION • Civil/structural • BIM coordination • Trade management • Logistics • Schedule recovery 15. AI INFRASTRUCTURE EVOLUTION • 50–120+ kW racks • Liquid cooling • Massive fiber density • Grid constraints • Thermal management The industry keeps talking about GPUs. But the real challenge is orchestrating ALL of these systems together reliably at hyperscale. Because in mission critical infrastructure: Everything is connected. Everything affects uptime. Everything matters. #MissionCritical #DataCenters #AIInfrastructure #Hyperscale #Commissioning #MEP #DigitalInfrastructure #CriticalInfrastructure #LiquidCooling #PowerInfrastructure #EPMS #BMS #AI