ST. LOUIS’ NEWEST INNOVATION DISTRICT IS ANCHORED BY GEOSPATIAL INTEL, FINTECH & DATA CENTERS
By Dick Fleming | Original Article in FDI Alliance International, Summer Interactive Issue 2024
While St. Louis is rapidly emerging as a hub for Geospatial Intelligence, parallel to this development is its rise as a key location for Data Centers.
Just as Northern Virginia has long been a U.S. center for both Geospatial Intelligence and Data Centers, St. Louis is carving out its own niche in these fields. The city’s new $1.75 billion, 1-million-square-foot NGA headquarters for 3,100 employees, currently under construction in downtown St. Louis, is attracting private-sector GEOINT firms like General Dynamics, Esri, Maxar, T-Kartor, BAE Systems, and CACI.
In the Data Center arena, St. Louis is leveraging its ample access to power, space, and fiber to carve out a distinctive niche in this fast-growing market. The city offers a unique advantage with its infrastructure, which supports the soaring demand for Data Centers.
As Marc Gittleman, CEO of 5X5 Telecom, noted in “The Value of Downtown Data Centers,” St. Louis has become a multi-billion-dollar sector since the early 2000s. This growth is only beginning. A January 2024 report from Morgan Stanley projects that the U.S. Data Center industry could expand to 18 gigawatts by 2027—more than double its current size.
The rising demand for AI technology is further driving this growth, with Goldman Sachs Research estimating a 160% increase in Data Center power demand by 2030.
Blackstone has also recognized this potential, recently announcing plans to invest $50 billion in Data Centers.
The 7X24 Change International 2024 Report on Data Center Site Location outlines five key criteria for location of a Data Center:
Availability, cost and redundancy of electric power
Low/moderate risk of adverse weather events or natural disasters
High-quality construction at a reasonable cost
Telecommunications infrastructure
Cooling technology/equipment and Quality of Life
This report concludes that “Midwest Data Centers [are] determined to be Optimal,” positioning St. Louis as a prime location.
At the heart of St. Louis’ emergence in both Geospatial Intelligence and Data Centers is the 720,000 SF Globe Building, a major anchor in the city’s new 18-square-block Downtown North Insight District. This high-tech renovation of an Art Deco former railroad terminal, led by lawyer/developer Sean Siebert, scores highly on the site selection criteria outlined in the 7X24 Change International report.
Carl Beardsley, Senior Managing Director of JLL, who leads their Data Center Capital Markets group, emphasized that the critical factor for Data Center success is access to power: “Honestly, it’s all about how much power you can get and how quickly you can get that power.” St. Louis offers a compelling advantage on this factor due to its reliable and expandable power infrastructure.
Photograph of the exterior of The Globe Building.
The Globe Building, described as “The High Tech Castle”
It has become a preferred location for 150,000 SF housing national and international Data Center firms. Most recently, Edge CEO Jon Eaves announced their move to The Globe:
“Edge’s facility in The Globe Building spans 28,000 square feet… renovations have helped Edge to modernize the systems and infrastructure powering its Data Centers, with the investment helping to reduce operating expenses. Edge’s electricity costs locally have dropped by 33% with this relocation.”
In its present status as a hub for both Geospatial Intelligence firms and Data Centers, The Globe Building has had a storied history.
The massive Art Deco Globe Building traces its roots to the dramatic growth of St. Louis following the City’s hosting of the World’s Fair and the Olympic Games in 1904.
Originally built to serve as one of two major railroad stations in St. Louis, it was originally called the Illinois Terminal Railroad Building.
In its early days, The Globe Building became a hub of logistics and transportation infrastructure, which were essential to St. Louis’ robust growth in the 1920s.
However, with the shift in the nation’s and St. Louis’ modes of transportation during the 1950s, and discontinuation of passenger rail service in 1958, the building’s role as a transportation hub diminished.
The St. Louis Globe-Democrat newspaper later relocated its HQ to the Globe Building to take advantage of the space to accommodate their need for large presses, massive supplies of ink, and more paper.
As the new millennium approached, the building’s unique infrastructure made it an ideal location for Data Centers seeking a downtown location.
In recent years, the Globe Building’s owners have undertaken a stunning high-tech adaptive reuse of this landmark, emphasizing its “Big Space, Big Power, and Big Fiber.” The building now houses five separately owned and operated Data Centers, with plans for further expansion.
Photograph of the interior of The Globe Building’s data centers.
Big space
The Globe Building’s unique physical attributes represent the necessary conditions for attracting and growing Data Centers—and now, for anchoring and growing GEOINT, Data Centers, and other tech firms as well.
Big power
The Globe Building has the on-site and expandable power and other infrastructure to handle individual businesses’ power and cooling needs.
This includes updated electrical power with 10 megawatts currently available to support new Data Center growth and an additional 50 megawatts expected soon. The building also features three (3) diverse utility feeds with true A+B utility power.
More than 40,000 SF is available on the rooftop. The Globe provides abundant roof space for cooling support equipment and wireless transmission.
Big fiber
The Globe’s “Meet Me Room” offers tenants, carriers, and data centers the ability to interconnect in a shared “carrier-neutral” environment without incurring local loop fees.
This large, climate-controlled, UPS-backed space supports multiple fiber providers and accommodates 100 cabinets.
From the mid-1990s to today, The Globe has become a preferred location for Data Center companies, and now Geospatial Intelligence and other tech firms.
In addition to The Globe Building, the Downtown North Insight District has seen the dramatic renovation of the 226,000-square-foot former St. Louis Post-Dispatch headquarters, set to become the home of Square and Block Inc.’s St. Louis’ newest innovation district, as chronicled in FDI over the past 2 years.