CyrusOne is expanding its Austin data center footprint in a big way—it purchased an asset in the Met Center and is gearing up its conversion to a data center. The property, dubbed Austin III, is across from CyrusOne’s existing facilities and would more than double its local portfolio. There are many companies looking to place their IT footprint in the metro, says SVP of data center design and construction John Hatem (right). On top of that, its central location in Texas (plus CyrusOne’s connection to its National Internet Exchange) makes it an ideal location for companies around the state to handle their IT needs in a low-cost, robustly connected environment.

The firm already has 113k SF of product in Austin and at full build-out, Austin III would add 172k SF (that includes about 25k SF of Class-A office space). John expects to open Phase 1—60k SF and 6 MW of critical load—by the end of this year. CyrusOne is also exploding in San Antonio—it has 95k SF on the ground there and its San Antonio II data center will offer another 372k SF. CyrusOne’s nationwide portfolio is 88% utilized.