Lower Manhattan Verizon building debuts as country’s tallest data center

The former Verizon building at 375 Pearl Street in Lower Manhattan makes its debut today as the country’s largest high-rise data center, Crain’s reported. Seattle-based commercial real estate and investment company Sabey Corp. bought the property out of foreclosure, spending $120 million in 2011 for a controlling interest in the 1.2 million-square-foot tower.

Data centers generally are removed from Manhattan, located in regions where property and power come cheap, Crain’s said. One such location is Rockland County, The Real Deal reported. But Sabey invested two years, as well as hundreds of millions of dollars, converting the property into a facility that provides storage and speedy processing capabilities for computers. Sabey is currently arranging two leases at the center that total 60,000 square feet.

“There’s nothing like this in Manhattan,” the company’s president, Dave Sabey, told Crain’s. “This property is going to appeal to demand.”

Dave Sabey told Crain’s he expects customers coming from Wall Street firms in need of high processing speeds. Technology and biomedical firms could also be drawn to the data center, Crain’s said.

A Newmark Grubb Knight Frank team made up of by David Falk, Michael Morris and Bryan Loewen are the leasing agents for the building, according to a press release. [Crain’s] —Zachary Kussin