Ascent Taps JLL to Lease ATL Data Center

By Tudor Scolca

Aerial view of Ascent’s ATL1 Facility

Ascent has entered into a partnership with JLL to list its newly completed data center, ATL1, in the Atlanta metro. The enterprise-grade facility is situated in the growing technology hub of Alpharetta, Ga. The company will seek to take advantage of the state’s new tax incentives set in place by Georgia House Bill 696.

ATL1, Ascent’s first data center in the metro, is situated on a secure 38-acre campus. The purpose-built facility totals 185,000 square feet and features 34,000 square feet of plug-and-play data center space. There are currently 8.1 megawatts of critical power available at ATL1, and the campus is primed for a two-phase expansion if needed, with scalable capacity of up to 30+ megawatts. ATL1 comprises two server-ready suites and up to 1,200 racks.

Tenants at the data center will have a wide palette of fiber carriers to choose from such as AT&T, CenturyLink, Comcast, Crown Castle, Fiberlight, Level 3, Telia, Verizon, Windstream and Zayo. Additional features of Ascent’s facility include diverse Points of Entry, two meet-me-rooms, as well as robust, 10-layer security. The building is LEED Gold certified.

Tax incentives

Earlier this year, the state’s tax legislature was expanded with the passage of House Bill 696, which is aimed at data center developers and operators. The new law exempts companies from paying taxes for a seven-year period, if certain criteria are met, depending on population. Fulton county’s population is more than one million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

To qualify for the exemption, an investment of at least $250 million in aggregate expenditures incurred over a seven-year period is required, together with the creation of at least 20 high-quality jobs—a position which pays at least 110 percent of the county’s average wage.

“The Alpharetta area and this location in particular has excellent fiber and power infrastructure already in place. The Ascent Data Center is a great solution for users looking for immediate capacity with runway and flexibility to densify in place and/or grow their data center footprint,” said Wendy McArthur, managing director at JLL Data Center Solutions, in a prepared statement.

Image courtesy of Ascent