April 2, 2003 -- WorldCom's Internet data center in Somerset, NJ has been leased in its entirety to an "investment grade New York institution," according to the partnership marketing the property for WorldCom.
A report in the Wall Street Journal (second item, subscription required) identified the tenant as the Bank of New York. The company is among a number of Wall Street firms shopping for data centers as federal regulators scrutinize the disaster recovery plans of key financial institutions.
The Somerset facility is one of four surplus WorldCom data centers placed for sale through the company's bankruptcy proceeding. Additional data centers are available in suburban Dallas, Atlanta and St. Louis markets.
Each site includes a 108,336 square foot stand-alone building, and features a state-of-the-art Internet data center with 73,932 square feet of raised-floor technical space. Features common to the buildings include multiple 2,000kw generators, 40-foot column spacing, 26.5 foot ceilings (16 foot clear height) and 200 pounds/sf floor loading in the data center space.
The partnership restructuring WorldCom's real estate assets includes Hilco Real Estate, Node Com Inc. and NAI. Node Com is a business affiliate of Carrier Hotels Inc., and the CarrierHotels.com web site assisted in the marketing of the Somerset property.
Mitchell Kahn, president of Chicago based Hilco, told the Journal that the 20-year lease "significantly increases the value of the property."
The partnership previously leased WorldCom's entire 541,000 square foot Pentagon City office property to the General Services Administration for use by the Transportation Security Administration, and is in the process of seeking bids for the sale of that property with the government tenant in place.
Investors interested in learning more about the Somerset property can obtain additional information from the WorldCom Real Estate web site or contact Node Com's Joe Suppers.