A former data center in Herndon, Virginia, has been converted into a vertical farm. Indoor farming company Beanstalk is set to launch its new HQ and vertical farm at 251 Exchange Place in Fairfax County on September 13.
Beanstalk uses proprietary hydroponic technology and heirloom seeds to produce leafy greens, herbs, and vegetables, which it currently sells to supermarket chain Harris Teeter and direct-to-consumers from its existing location. The 251 sites operated as a data center for a decade or more. Digital Realty acquired the site back in 2006 for $12.9 million. The site was leased to Level3 for a period of time. Digital Realty then sold the facilities to Netrality in a four-facility deal in mid-2016, with Lincoln Rackhouse acquiring it a month later.
Lincoln still has the facility listed on its site, but it seems EQT’s Exeter Property Group took over the property sometime around 2019. The company also lists the property at its site, but as an industrial space rather than a data center, and filed with Herndon official to redesign parts of the property in May 2019.
The two-story building was constructed in 1985. As a data center, the ~71,000 sq ft building previously offered around 23,400 sq ft (2,175 sqm) of IT space across four data halls and some 5MW of capacity with a further 3MW available, as well as 17,750 sq ft (1,650 sqm) of office space.
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