Local developer Cole Phoenix Telecom sold the 4010 N. 3rd St. property to the Denver-based cyber-auction kingpin. "eBay looked a several Southwest cities for its expansion data center," Andy Markham, a vice president with Grubb & Ellis|BRE Commercial LLC, tells GlobeSt.com. "They choose Phoenix because it has a low probability of natural disasters." For previous story, click here. Plus, he points out, Phoenix is relatively close to eBay's data centers in San Jose, CA and Denver.

Markham says eBay evaluated five buildings in the metro before deciding on the Switch X building. He estimates eBay will need at least 12 months to get the data center up and running.

"It's really the only building of its type," Markham says, adding infrastructure already is in place to support a large data center. The structure features redundant fiber and emergency and back-up generators as well as separate cooling towers. "eBay was attracted to the building because it was already set up to be a data center," he says. Moreover, the 4.7-acre tract allows for future expansion.