Global real estate investment firm Starwood Capital Group is planning a major expansion in its data center investments by launching Starwood Digital Ventures, a platform dedicated to the sector.
Over the past five years, Starwood Capital has committed a total of approximately $8 billion in data center development encompassing 1.5 gigawatts in various stages of development, making it one of the largest privately held data center developers in the United States and Europe. Starwood Digital Ventures will utilize funds from various Starwood investment vehicles to continue to develop its pipeline as well as partner with best-in-class data center operators.
“We are incredibly excited about the launch of Starwood Digital, which will provide us with additional opportunities to grow our data center portfolio amidst strong industry tailwinds,” said Barry Sternlicht, chairman and CEO of Starwood Capital. “With the strong demand for data center services in the United States and growing needs to support end uses such as artificial intelligence, we see continued opportunity to invest in this growing sector.”
In conjunction with this announcement, Starwood Capital also announced that it has entered into a strategic alliance with Worldwide Mission Critical, a consulting firm with deep expertise assisting clients with the design and development of data center projects. Worldwide Mission Critical provides services ranging from design management, bidding and procurement, construction quality control and integrated testing for data center projects. The firm has partnered with Starwood Capital on several projects over the past five years. The strategic alliance will allow Starwood Capital to quickly scale its data center platform to support anticipated growth.
“In addition, we have worked closely with Worldwide Mission Critical the last several years and look forward to deepening our relationship with the industry experts there, who have become valued partners of ours, as we leverage their skills and strong industry reputation to expand our data center investments both domestically and abroad generating compelling value for our investors,” said Anthony Balestrieri, managing director at Starwood Capital.
