Aligned Data Centers Lands $600M From Blackstone

Blackstone Credit & Insurance, an entity of private equity giant Blackstone, has provided an initial $600 million senior secured credit facility to Aligned Data Centers for the development of SLC-03, the technology infrastructure company’s newest and largest data center near Salt Lake City.

The credit facility is the first financing deal as part of a new strategic partnership between BXCI and Aligned. It is committed by insurance accounts managed by BXCI’s Infrastructure & Asset Based Credit Group.

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Located at 3333 W 9000 S in West Jordan, Utah, SLC-03 is a two-story, 80 MW build-to-suit data center development, the fourth on Aligned’s hyperscale campus in the Salt Lake City metro area. The facility will include the firm’s patented Delta Cube cooling technology featuring a waterless heat rejection system.

Aligned announced plans to develop SLC-03 for an unidentified customer in June 2022. Nearly a year earlier in August, the firm had acquired the site and started work on SLC-04, another multi-megawatt build-to-suit facility at the West Jordan campus. Other on-site facilities include the 300,000-square-foot SLC-01 and the 240,000-square-foot SLC-02, that was completed in March 2021.

Aligned’s recent operations include its first foray into the Ohio market. In September 2023, the firm acquired a 129-acre land parcel in Sandusky, formerly occupied by General Motors, for development of a new data center campus.

Including Ohio and Utah, the company now operates or is developing facilities in eight states—Texas, Illinois, Oregon, Arizona, Maryland and Virginia. Aligned also has one location in Canada and four in Latin America.

Blackstone’s data center deals

Blackstone has increasingly targeted data center investments in recent years. Late last year, Digital Realty formed a joint venture with funds controlled by Blackstone for the development of four new data centers in Northern Virginia, Paris and Frankfurt. The partnership expects to invest at least $7 billion and develop up to 10 data centers.

In June 2021, Blackstone acquired QTS Realty Trust for $10 billion. Last July, the firm announced it sold off other assets to fund an $8 billion commitment to build new data centers through QTS.