Network of Telecom Hotels Expands

PHOENIX-Sterling Exchange Network, an affiliate of Chicago-based Sterling Capital, is expanding its network of telecom hotels in the Valley with the purchase of an industrial building near the airport and a parcel of land Downtown.

Sterling purchased for $7 million a 324,000-sf industrial building at 1402 E. Buckeye Rd., just west of the city’s main airport, Sky Harbor International Airport. Sterling has begun renovation and expansion of the facility, which will have 434,000 sf when completed.

The building will be part of the Sterling Exchange Network, which has a series of technology exchanges throughout the country. The network provides core bandwidth to a variety of telecom carriers, local exchange carriers, web hosts, Internet service providers and application service providers.

Sterling entered the Phoenix marketplace early this year when it purchased a 320,000-sf building in downtown Phoenix. The company converted the building into the Downtown Phoenix Technology Exchange.

Sterling recently closed escrow on a parcel of land adjacent to the Downtown Phoenix Technology Exchange for future expansion of the telecom hotel. The parcel, at the northeaster corner of Central and Van Buren avenues, will contain a two- to four-story building with from 200,000 to 400,000 sf of space. The company expects to break ground on the new facility in 2001.