Data Center Company Direct Line Global Triples Presence at NoVA’s Ashburn Crossing
By Keith Loria April 4, 2023 10:20 am
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Direct Line Global, a data center solutions company, has inked a 17,040-square-foot lease for research and development space within Ashburn Crossing, an 80-acre business park in Ashburn, Va.
St. John Properties owns the Loudon County property, which is in NoVA’s high-tech business corridor and comprises six buildings totaling approximately 220,000 square feet of flex and R&D space.
Silicon Valley-based Direct Line Global currently has 5,520 square feet at 21005 Ashburn Crossing Drive, and when it moves into its new space at 21220 Ashburn Crossing Drive in mid-2023, it will more than triple its footprint. The new single-story building contains a total of 46,080 square feet of flex and R&D space.
“Our Ashburn Crossing operation has us centered within Data Center Alley, and we are excited to serve the growing needs of our clients from this important geographic hub,” Vern Kuehn, vice president of operations for Direct Line Global, told Commercial Observer. “We are excited to continue to build our presence and the scale of our operations in the expanding Northern Virginia data center market.”
The company will use its new space to service clients early on in their projects, and also for what the company calls Direct Line University, a regional training center for technicians.
“DLU is a key aspect of our efforts to support the growth and development of our people while also allowing us to support and impact the community in which we operate,” Kuehn said.
In 2021, St. John Properties started building three additional flex/R&D buildings on spec that total more than 135,000 square feet as well as a convenience store pad site. The project also includes an additional 17 acres for future development along Gloucester Parkway.
No brokers were used for the lease. Rents were not disclosed. But an Avison Young report pegged average direct asking rents in the Northern Virginia office market at $33.77 a square foot in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Keith Loria can be reached at Kloria@commercialobserver.com.
