Digital Realty Trust Reports Leasing Activity for the Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2008
Posted on: Tuesday, 13 January 2009, 07:00 CST
Lease Signings for 2008 Represent over $1.0 Billion in Contract Value for the Company
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: DLR), a leading owner and manager of corporate and Internet gateway datacenters, is reporting strong leasing activity for both the fourth quarter and full year 2008. For the full year 2008, lease signings represent over $1.0 billion in contract value for the Company, more than twice the contract value for leases signed in 2007.
For the year ended December 31, 2008, the Company commenced leases totaling approximately 1,144,000 square feet, which represents a fifty percent increase over leases commenced for the year ended December 31, 2007. This includes nearly 696,000 square feet of Turn-Key Datacenter(TM) space leased at an average annual GAAP rental rate of $142.00 per square foot, over 269,000 square feet of Powered Base Building(TM) space leased at an average annual GAAP rental rate of $42.00 per square foot, and approximately 180,000 square feet of non-technical space leased at an average annual GAAP rental rate of $22.00 per square foot.
For the quarter ended December 31, 2008, the Company commenced leases totaling approximately 320,000 square feet of space. This includes nearly 164,000 square feet of Turn-Key Datacenter(TM) space leased at an average annual GAAP rental rate of $154.00 per square foot, approximately 119,000 square feet of Powered Base Building(TM) space leased at an average annual GAAP rental rate of $49.00 per square foot, and approximately 38,000 square feet of non-technical space leased at an average annual GAAP rental rate of $15.00 per square foot.
For the year ended December 31, 2008, the Company signed leases totaling approximately 1,136,000 square feet. This includes approximately 594,000 square feet of Turn-Key Datacenter(TM) space leased at an average annual GAAP rental rate of $153.00 per square foot, over 299,000 square feet of Powered Base Building(TM) space leased at an average annual GAAP rental rate of $56.00 per square foot, and approximately 242,000 square feet of non-technical space leased at an average annual GAAP rental rate of $18.00 per square foot.
For the quarter ended December 31, 2008, the Company signed leases totaling approximately 276,000 square feet of space. This includes approximately 120,000 square feet of Turn-Key Datacenter(TM) space leased at an average annual GAAP rental rate of $180.00 per square foot, approximately 8,000 square feet of Powered Base Building(TM) space leased at an average annual GAAP rental rate of $54.00 per square foot, and approximately 149,000 square feet of non-technical space leased at an average annual GAAP rental rate of $17.00 per square foot.
"We are very pleased with both our fourth quarter and full year 2008 leasing results," commented Michael F. Foust, CEO of Digital Realty Trust. "Total lease commencements for the year ending December 31, 2008 increased 50% over the same period in 2007, primarily due the strong demand for high quality datacenter space combined with widespread adoption of our Turn-Key Datacenter(TM) product. Leased square footage commencing for this flexible, dedicated IT infrastructure solution was over four times higher in 2008 than for leases commencing in 2007.
"With over $1 billion in contract value from new leasing in 2008, an increase of more than 100% over 2007, our ability to meet the demand for datacenter space continued to be an important source of growth for the Company. Looking ahead, the long-term duration of these leases, averaging approximately 8.5 years, further enhances DLR's unique blend of defensive characteristics and growth."
Chris Crosby, Senior Vice President of Sales and Technical Services for Digital Realty Trust added, "Our Turn-Key Datacenter(TM) product demonstrates our leadership position as a cost effective, highly reliable IT infrastructure solution for our corporate, telecommunications and Internet enterprise customers as well as for the large system integrators. Given the very difficult economic environment in the fourth quarter, we are especially proud of our continued strong leasing momentum and we believe it is indicative of the critical nature of datacenter facilities."
Digital Realty Trust Turn-Key Datacenter(TM) facilities provide state-of-the-art environments for supporting mission critical infrastructure, with advanced cooling, power, redundancy, and sustainability features to ensure that critical applications are available while optimizing energy efficiency. Digital Realty Trust's Turn-Key Datacenters(TM) are scalable from hundreds of kilowatts of IT Load to megawatts of IT load and are located in markets throughout North America and Europe. Each Turn-Key Datacenter(TM) facility is physically secure and features a state-of-the-art power and cooling architecture that has been optimized for green operation. Every Turn-Key Datacenter(TM) is built using the company's proprietary POD Architecture(TM) and uses metered power to ensure that clients pay only for the power that they use.
About Digital Realty Trust, Inc.
Digital Realty Trust, Inc. owns, acquires, redevelops, develops and manages technology-related real estate. The Company is focused on providing Turn-Key Datacentre(TM) and Powered Base Building(TM) datacentre solutions for domestic and international tenants across a variety of industry verticals ranging from information technology and internet enterprises, to manufacturing and financial services. Digital Realty Trust's 74 properties, excluding one property held as an investment in an unconsolidated joint venture, contain applications and operations critical to the day-to-day operations of technology industry tenants and corporate enterprise datacentre tenants. Comprising approximately 1.2 million rentable square metres (12.9 million rentable square feet) as of November 5, 2008, including 150,000 square metres (1.6 million square feet) of space held for redevelopment, Digital Realty Trust's portfolio is located in 27 markets throughout North America and Europe. For additional information, please visit Digital Realty Trust's website at http://www.digitalrealtytrust.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements which are based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially. These risks and uncertainties include adverse economic or real estate developments in the Company's markets; general economic slow-downs or recessions; reductions in information technology spending; difficulties in or inability to lease space, including redeveloped space; construction and development delays; increased development costs; tenant bankruptcies or defaults under leases by tenants; failure to commence rental payments on time under signed leases; increased interest rates; increased operating costs; failure to obtain necessary outside financing; decreased rental rates or increased vacancy rates; difficulties in identifying properties to acquire; completing acquisitions at all or at acceptable return levels; failure to successfully operate properties; failure of existing, acquired or redeveloped properties to perform as expected; reductions in property values; failure to maintain the Company's status as a REIT; environmental uncertainties and risks related to natural disasters; financial market fluctuations; changes in foreign currency exchange rates; risks of operating in foreign markets; and changes in real estate and zoning laws and increases in real property tax rates. For a further list and description of such risks and uncertainties, see the reports and other filings by the Company with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Company's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007 and the Company's quarterly reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2008, June 30, 2008 and September 30, 2008. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
For Additional Information:
A. William Stein Pamela A. Matthews Chris Crosby
Chief Financial Officer and Investor/Analyst Sales & Technical
Chief Investment Officer Information Services
Digital Realty Digital Realty Digital Realty
Trust, Inc. Trust, Inc. Trust, Inc.
+1 415-738-6500 +1 415-738-6500 +1 214-231-1350
SOURCE Digital Realty Trust, Inc.
Source: PR Newswire
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