The $100 million project is being done for MetroNexis by Florham Park, NJ-based Gale & Wentworth, which is acting as the developer and will lease and manage it. The property is actually two separate buildings, a seven-story facility and a companion two-story building. The two buildings are connected.

Of the total of 1.1 million sf, about one-third is vacant and currently available. Verizon, AT&T and Looking Glass Networks have already committed for a total of some 40,000 sf even though the building isn't ready. The remaining two-thirds of the property is occupied by a mix of industrial companies, and most are expected to relocate by the end of the year as the makeover continues, according to a G&W spokesman.

A major part of the project is that the owner is pouring an undisclosed "tens of millions" into installing everything from fiber optics to a power substation. Rents are ranging from $30 to $40 per sf depending on location within the building and the size of the space being taken, according to G&W. The conversion is expected to be finished in about two years.

MetroNexis North America is one of two companies -- the other is Global Gateway -- that were formed about a year ago to jointly or separately telco hotels around the world. Morgan Stanley Real Estate Funds put up a total of $1.25 billion to get the two companies going, and after a year's worth of activity they have nearly a dozen telcos underway on three continents, adding up to some six million sf of space.