THE WESTIN BUILDING EXCHANGE

Digital Realty has just reached an agreement with Clise Properties to acquire a 49% ownership interest in the Westin Building Exchange in Seattle, Washington.

With this transaction, Digital Realty will have a majority stake in the Seattle exchange facility, since it already acquired a 49% stake in 2006, bringing the total to 98% and leaving Clise with 2% stake in the Westin Building Exchange.

“This investment represents a significant step towards executing on the PlatformDIGITAL™ roadmap we introduced last November, adding coverage, capacity and connectivity capabilities to enable our customers’ digital transformation strategies,” said A. William Stein CEO of Digital Realty.

“This linchpin asset gives us the opportunity to fully leverage our robust business infrastructure and open up a full suite of enterprise IT solutions to our global customer base.  This transaction further strengthens our interconnection platform and demonstrates our commitment to accelerating digital business on PlatformDIGITAL™.”

The Westin Building Exchange is the sixth most densely interconnected facility in North America, and serves as the primary interconnection hub for the Pacific Northwest, linking Canada, Alaska and Asia along the Pacific Rim.  This 34-story tower accommodates over 150 carriers with more than 10,000 cross-connects and it is sited adjacent to Amazon’s 4.1 million square foot urban campus.

According to Digital Realty, its investment in the Westin Building will unlock new possibilities for customers to scale digital transformation by removing data gravity barriers. The Westin Building Exchange sits at the digital crossroads of the Pacific Northwest and provides direct and virtual access to one of the richest communities of cloud and network providers, the company adds.

Although the cost of this acquisition wasn’t disclosed, the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and it is expected to close in the first half of 2020.  

Upon closing, Digital Realty will assume management and operational oversight for the facility.