Data Center Project Contends With New DC Rules

WASHINGTON, DC-Sometimes the market changes between closing a deal and starting the leasing or breaking ground. Other times it’s the politics.

Fowler Flanagan Technology Partners LLC recently purchased two buildings in Northeast DC for $7 million, intending to convert them to a data center. Demand is strong, but what it didn’t count on was emergency rules imposed by city officials to limit the development of data centers.

The rules hit just as renovations were underway to convert the former liquor warehouses into a “telecom-ready cyber fortress.” Now the owners and their broker wonder how defensible their investment is.