Cervalis LLC has signed a lease for 71,500 sf of space at 165 Meyers Corner Rd. in Wappingers Falls, a 143,000-sf building owned by Laerdal Medical Corp., which operates out of an adjoining building in the complex. Gordon Rutherfurd, director of business attraction for the Dutchess County Economic Development Corporation, says the firm had applied for and was awarded $115,000 in employee training grants by the Dutchess County Industrial Development Agency earlier this week.

Rutherfurd says, "Several days after IBM announced the largest capital investment in New York State history here now is this deal, which is the largest lease transaction in years in Dutchess County."

Michael Boccardi, president and chief executive officer of Cervalis, confirmed reports by the real estate brokerage community that the lease deal had been signed. He also revealed that the firm, which is now housed in temporary space in Cheshire, CT, has signed a 9,000 sf lease at 1200 Bedford St., in Stamford to serve as its corporate headquarters. Howard Properties also represented Cervalis in that transaction. He says the firm will occupy its new corporate headquarters space in Stamford, CT by the end of this month and hopes to move into its Dutchess County space sometime in the first quarter of 2001.

Boccardi said that the Wappingers Falls facility will serve as the firm's Internet Data Center and will also house administrative staff. The company has projected to Dutchess County officials that it will employ 130 workers in Wappingers Falls by the end of 2001. Howard Properties, Ltd. of White Plains, which represented Cervalis in the transaction, brokered the lease. CB Richard Ellis represented Laerdal Medical Corp.

Cervalis was formed in April of this year and is a managed Web hosting and co-location solutions provider. According to the firm's web site www.cervalis.com, the company projects to begin Web hosting in early 2001 and other Web-related solutions services in the early first quarter of next year as well.

Commenting on the company's deal in Dutchess County, Boccardi said, "We believe that Dutchess County is an excellent place for our business. It offers a great opportunity for us and Dutchess County to attract high-tech workers and businesses to the area."