Starwood Capital increased its investment in Echelon Data Centres this week when it announced the parties had agreed a new loan with an initial value of €855 mln.
Echelon has six sites with approval and power supplies secured which it says could have a total capacity of up to 500MW, and the loan will be used to construct and complete the four Irish projects.
The Irish company is headed by Niall Molloy who is also the main principal of London-based Aldgate Developments. Both companies have existing relationships with Starwood.
Last year, private equity firms Pioneer Point and Davison Kempner teamed up to back Echelon which also has projects in London Docklands and Chesham in Buckinghamshire. The Chesham site was jointly acquired with Starwood in a $250 mln agreement announced last October.
Echelon’s four Irish sites are at Clondalkin and Grange Castle, south of Dublin, and in Arklow, Co Wicklow.
CEO Molloy said the new finance deal signalled the next phase of the Echelon project in Ireland. ‘Data centres are essential infrastructure - now, post-pandemic, more than ever,’ he said.
‘If we are to continue to benefit from low-cost, reliable and time-saving tech such as Zoom and Teams, if we're to enjoy the speed of 5G, if we are to stream on-demand and if we are to look forward to the future of AI and the IoT, then increasing data centre capacity is a given.’
Meanwhile Starwood agreed a second jumbo development loan this week, this time to Get Living, the developer-owner of build to rent residential owned by APG, Qatari Diar, Oxford Properties and Delancey.
The £365 mln facility will be used to fund the continued redevelopment of the former Elephant & Castle Shopping Centre. The site’s next phase will see 485 homes built, 313 for market rent and 172 for affordable rent; 135,000 sq ft of shops, restaurants and leisure space; 55,000 sq ft of workspace; a new university campus for London College of Communication, UAL and a new tube station entrance and ticket hall.
The five-year loan is funded by US mortgage REIT Starwood Property Trust and debt fund Starwood European Real Estate Debt Finance 1.
