Québec-based eStruxture Data Centers has acquired The Montreal Gazette’s former printing facility in Montreal, and plans to create a new world-class 30-megawatt data centre. The company added that the $150 million investment will allow it to pursue growth while providing its customers with a world-class infrastructure and unique proximity to downtown Montréal. “As part of our strategy to expand and acquire data centres nationally, we’re thrilled to breathe new life into this historic building, whose size and strategic location offer the perfect site to better serve the growing IT services industry in Montréal and around the world,” said Todd Coleman, President and CEO of eStruxture. “The conversion of this printing facility is great news for Montreal, as well as a compelling demonstration of the city’s transition to the digital economy.”
The 156,000-square-foot building, located on Saint-Jacques St. in Notre-Dame -de-Grâce, has been vacant since The Gazette closed this facility in 2014. Upgrading and expansion work will begin immediately, with the new data centre set to open in the Spring of 2018. With 30 megawatts of power capacity – equivalent to a city of 25,000 homes – and a fibre loop connecting the site to eStruxture’s existing downtown data centre, it’ll become one of the most important data centre facilities in the region. Montréal is a well known market for data centres, and the city’s unique assets played a crucial role in this business decision. These included access to clean and affordable energy, a cool climate that limits the amount of energy needed for cooling, a current flourishing digital ecosystem, and a strong technology sector with many potential clients, among others.
“Montreal’s leadership as a digital hub and magnet for data centres is undeniable,” Coleman added. “International companies, especially from the United States, are increasingly establishing themselves in Montreal to meet their data-centre needs. We’re proud to participate in this economic shift, which comes with job creation and new foreign direct investment.” This will be the second data centre operated in Montreal by eStruxture, a company founded with the support of major Canadian investors – including the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Canderel and Fengate Real Asset Investments.
“With the growth of e-commerce and the digital transformation underway in Québec, companies are facing a steadily rising need to efficiently process and store their cloud data. As such, we’re pleased to see eStruxture deepen its roots in Montréal. These new facilities will help the company accelerate its growth in Québec and Canada,” said Christian Dubé, Executive Vice-President, Québec at la Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. eStruxture provides network and cloud-neutral data-centre solutions that run modern, demanding enterprise applications, as well as the control to rapidly scale in response to unpredictable changes in business processes. Headquartered in Montreal, the company provides access to an ecosystem of over 850 clients that depend on eStruxture’s infrastructure and radical customer support – including carriers, cloud providers, media content companies, financial services and enterprise customers. eStruxture offers co-location, private cloud, managed services, bandwidth and security and support services to its customers.
eStruxture Data Centers acquires Montreal Gazette’s former printing facility for $150 million
