WASHINGTON, DC—A new national data center operator has been formed out of a pair of companies wholly owned by ASB Real Estate Investments, headquartered here. Dallas Infomart and Fortune Data Centers, both wholly owned by ASB's Allegiance Real Estate Fund, have merged under the name Infomart Data Centers. The combined company will manage a 2.2-million-square-foot, 100-megawatt portfolio, including a new facility outside Washington, DC that's set to open in 2015.

The new facility, to be located in Ashburn, VA—arguably the data center hub of the US—will join the 1.3-million-square-foot Dallas Infomart and a pair of facilities in Portland, OR and in San Jose, where Infomart Data Centers is now headquartered. “After building a national portfolio of some of the industry's most successful data center properties, we reached a scale where it made sense to form an extremely well-capitalized operator, backed and owned by the fund, to manage our assets on a national basis in the best interests of our investors and tenants,” says David Quigley, ASB's CIO.

“From four of the most important markets in the country, we are now positioned to serve the dynamic needs of our existing and future customers, who are often looking for extended location options with a trusted, highly capable provider,” says John Sheputis, formerly head of Fortune and the newly named president of the combined company. “Our extended footprint sets a strong national foundation for anticipated future growth from existing tenants, new customers and the hiring of additional staff.”

Infomart's Ashburn facility was acquired from AOL this past August for approximately $33.8 million, according to Real Capital Analytics. The 14-year-old, 180,039-square-foot property will undergo extensive renovations to increase capacity and update it to current standards. Last month, GlobeSt.com reported that Griffin Capital Essential Asset REIT made its first foray into the data center sector, paying $148.4 million to take an 80% stake in a nearby data center owned by San Francisco-based Digital Realty.

The data center market domestically is expected to grow 4% this year to reach $156 billion, according to technology research firm Gartner Inc. Increasing IT capacity requirements, combined with reduced budgets and the need to access new technologies, are fueling growth, says DCD Intelligence in a 2014 report.