Fowler Flanagan Technology Partners LLC recently purchased twobuildings in Northeast DC for $7 million, intending to convert themto a data center. Demand is strong, but what it didn't count on wasemergency rules imposed by city officials to limit the developmentof data centers.

The rules hit just as renovations were underway to convert theformer liquor warehouses into a "telecom-ready cyber fortress." Nowthe owners and their broker wonder how defensible their investmentis.

The two buildings at 705-707 Edgewood Street NE lie in the northend of the NoMa area, a roughly triangular area named for beingnorth of Massachusetts Avenue. Built between 1948 and 1949, thebuildings total 121,000 sf and were used as liquor warehouses.Fowler Flanagan plans a multimillion-dollar renovation project thatwill convert them into what will be called the Edgewood TechnologyCenter by December.