March 5, 2003 -- Sentinel Properties - Needham LLC this week began marketing its newly-acquired data center in Needham, Mass., targeting corporate tenants seeking disaster recovery space.
The 314,000 square foot building, branded as The Sentinel Building at 128 First Avenue, was built last year by Level 3 Communications, which spent more than $100 million to complete the facility before seeking a buyer.
Sentinel Properties is owned by New York-based firms Resolution Capital, Rabina Realty and Rose Associates.
The company says it has seen growing corporate demand for finished data center space in in recent months, spurred by heightened security concerns, federal regulatory efforts in the financial services and healthcare industries and bargain hunting.
"Corporations seem to be slowly realizing that, despite popular belief, there is not a lot of finished and truly high-quality data center space on the market right now and that the bargain basement pricing available today really won't be around for very long," said J.R. McDonald of Cushman and Wakefield, whose Boston office will be the leasing agent for The Sentinel Building.
"We can provide tenants with their own fully autonomous technical space, complete with dedicated power and cooling systems and office space for on-site staffing requirements - all at a fraction of replacement cost," says Josh Rabina of Sentinel Properties.
The three-floor building includes 210,000 square feet of finished data center space, and offers two separate utility feeds. To ensure uninterrupted availability of electricity and water, The Sentinel Building features eight 2-megawatt Caterpillar generators, 90,0000 gallons of diesel fuel storage, and more than 400,000 gallons of water storage.
Sentinel Properties said its low cost basis will enable corporate tenants to lower the operating costs associated with constructing new facilities, upgrading old facilities or outsourcing to third-party service providers.
Resolution Capital, LLC is a New York-based investment firm that acquires underutilized or troubled assets.
Rabina Realty, Inc. is a family-owned real estate investment firm headed by Mickey Rabina that owns more than 6 million square feet of real estate. The firm has has a history of long-term ownership of quality assets.
Rose Associates, Inc. is an East Coast developer, manager and long-term owner of over 30 million square feet of real estate. Rose's Boston-area management team has over 25 years of experience operating mission-critical facility systems.