CIM Group Commits $125M to North Dakota Data Center

Alternative asset manager CIM Group has closed on an initial $125 million loan commitment to fund the construction of Applied Digital Corp.’s high-performance computing campus in Ellendale, N.D. The note can increase to as much as $200 million.

The three-year, 12.0 percent note’s initial commitments totaling $125 million are supplemented by an accordion feature allowing for up to $75 million in further borrowings. The data center will offer massive computing power and support HPC applications.

APLD began construction on the 100 MW, 342,000-square-foot first building in Ellendale in October 2023. The campus has more than 600 MW of future capacity.

Wes Cummins, CEO of APLD, told Commercial Property Executive that his company has executed a letter of intent with a U.S.-based hyperscaler for a 400 MW capacity lease at the Ellendale campus. He added that the commitment encompasses the company’s 100 MW facility under construction and plans for two additional buildings.

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP was CIM Group’s legal counsel, while Milbank LLP and Lowenstein Sandler LLP represented APLD.

Ellendale is almost on the South Dakota state line, roughly 125 miles southeast from Bismarck, N.D. Cummins also referenced APLD’s Jamestown, N.D., campus, which is nearing completion with an additional 100 MW HPC facility. Jamestown is about 100 miles east of Bismarck along Interstate 94.

Power before land

In March, APLD agreed to sell a recently completed 200 MW cryptocurrency mining campus in Garden City, Texas, to Marathon Digital Holdings, one of APLD’s customers, for about $97 million. The transaction was motivated in part by APLD’s desire to reallocate capital to North Dakota, Cummins said at the time.

CPE‘s 2024 data center outlook highlighted rock-bottom vacancies in multiple primary markets, including Northern Virginia. One of the major drivers of data center development this year is simply the availability of enough power, to the extent that developers typically negotiate a power commitment even before nailing down a land purchase.