A Houston-based data company paid $4 million for the former Bed Bath & Beyond data center in Claremont and has converted it into a facility that will rent out space to third parties for their servers and other network equipment.
Known as a colocation center, Data Journey officials say it will serve both local and regional clients. The investment in the building was almost $7 million, when adding attorney fees and other expenses related to the prior owner’s bankruptcy, according to Data Journey.
“We’ve created a first-class colocation center with significant space and power capacity for future deployments as well as expansion within the current structure and acreage for additional builds,” says Matt Wells, who co-founded the company with Ishnella Kaur Azad this year.
Built in 2013 at a cost of $36.8 million, the 47,500 square-foot data center is now wholly-owned by Data Journey and offers 9,500 square feet of immediately-available raised floor space, and the ability to expand capacity to provide over 3 megawatts of critical load, according to a release. That’s enough to power about 300 homes. There is also additional shell space in the center that is already prepared for expansion.
The seven-acre site could lend itself to up to 100 MW of power generation to the site, says Todd Smith, a commercial adviser to Data Journey on the project. “Our effort now is to get the word out about it both locally and regionally,” says Smith.
Catawba County, located about 50 miles northwest of Charlotte, has been recruiting data centers since 2006 and promoting itself as the “NC Data Center Corridor.” In 2022, Microsoft announced it would invest $1 billion in four technology centers in Catawba County. Apple already has a datacenter in the Catawba County town of Maiden.
The Data Journey project is a good use for the building, says Scott Millar, president of Catawba County Economic Development. “We’re happy something is going in there that will be a benefit to a lot of people,” says Millar. “And those type of developments usually come with a big investment.”
Data Journey already has tenants for its Catawba County Data Center: Sourceability, a global distributor of electronic components in support of digitalizing the supply chain, and two Charlotte-based IT firms — 10X Consulting Group and XOR Group.
“We have chosen Data Journey as our primary data center and will be consolidating in Catawba County over the next 18 months,” says Rick Sanford, director of professional services of 10X Consulting Group, in a release.
Corey Batrous, vice president information technology at Sourceability, adds, “The center provides us with the scalability and infrastructure we need to support our growing operations, right in the heart of one of the nation’s most tech-focused regions.”
Catawba County Data Center’s onsite management team includes Tracy Sapp and Charles McPherson, both of whom managed the site for several years prior to its conversion.
The Catawba County site is Data Journey’s second acquisition. The company’s first center, a former nuclear bomb shelter known as the Westland Bunker, is located north of Houston.
Azad says Data Journey’s plans for its Catawba County Data Center aligns with the county’s strategic plan to invest in mid-scale data center infrastructure and positioning those assets for future growth. Data Journey aims to acquire up to the 30 data centers across the country.
“With more than 500 investors, we’re on sound financial footing to expand our footprint in strategic locations across the country,” says Azad in a release. “We’re certainly open to welcoming new investors who share our vision and want to be part of this exciting growth journey.”
Neither Azad nor Wells immediately responded to follow-up questions about the Catawba data center. Bed Bath & Beyond filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April 2023 and closed its last store in July 2023.