BGO’s $260M Data Center Fund Signals Major US Digital Infrastructure Expansion

Strategic Investment in Next-Generation Digital Infrastructure

Real estate investment management firm BentallGreenOak (BGO) has successfully closed a $260 million co-investment fund specifically earmarked for data center development across the United States. This specialized funding round, established in connection with the firm’s US Industrial Strategies I fund, represents a significant commitment to addressing the growing demand for digital infrastructure in power-constrained markets.

Comprehensive Funding Strategy Reaches Final Close

The data center co-investment brings the total capital raised through BGO’s inaugural closed-end strategy to approximately $800 million, with the fund now reaching its final close. The funding attracted commitments from nine additional institutional investors, supplementing the nine domestic institutional investors already committed to the broader US Industrial Strategies I fund. This diverse investor base includes pension funds, insurance groups, and high-net-worth capital, reflecting strong institutional confidence in digital infrastructure assets.

Substantial Development Pipeline Taking Shape

BGO is currently in advanced negotiations to secure up to 800MW of power capacity, which would enable the development of approximately 3.2 million square feet of data center space. This substantial power allocation comes at a critical time when many markets face significant power constraints for large-scale digital infrastructure projects.

“What we’ve been able to achieve to date through Industrial Strategies I reflects growing investor conviction in BGO’s ability to deliver the next generation of state-of-the-art digital infrastructure, and state-of-the-art, power-hungry logistics facilities,” said John Carrafiell, co-CEO of BGO. “By combining institutional real estate expertise with deep utility-grade energy insight, we’re creating three shovel-ready powered sites with access to critical infrastructure.”, as previous analysis, according to further reading

Strategic Partnership with NorthPoint Development

The development strategy leverages BGO’s partnership with NorthPoint Development, which brings extensive land banking and development capabilities to the collaboration. The portfolio currently includes eight industrial projects, three of which are specifically planned for data center development. NorthPoint’s extensive land position includes 37 powered sites across 17 states, totaling more than 15,600 acres with 4.8GW of potential capacity.

The partnership has particularly strong presence in Pennsylvania, where multiple projects are in development stages around Philadelphia, Hazle Township, and Packer Township. This strategic geographic positioning addresses the growing demand for data center capacity in key northeastern markets.

Portfolio Scale and Current Progress

BGO’s industrial portfolio now spans more than 1,500 acres across the United States, featuring 17.1 million square feet of buildable area with dedicated capacity for data center development. Significant progress has already been achieved, with 6.4 million square feet already constructed and 5 million square feet leased to institutional-grade tenants. This demonstrates the strategy’s immediate traction while maintaining substantial development capacity for future data center projects.

BGO’s Expanding Digital Infrastructure Footprint

With approximately $86 billion in assets under management, BGO brings substantial financial heft to its data center ambitions. The firm has been actively building its digital infrastructure capabilities, recently launching BGO DataCenters as a dedicated platform. This platform already claims a European pipeline exceeding 1.2GW of capacity, focused on Tier 1 and 2 markets.

BGO’s experience in the sector includes investments in Nordic data center firm Bulk Infrastructure and the acquisition of two IBM data centers in Canada through sale-leaseback transactions. This track record positions the firm well to execute on its ambitious US development plans.

Market Context and Strategic Advantage

The timing of this funding initiative coincides with unprecedented demand for data center capacity, driven by cloud computing expansion, artificial intelligence workloads, and ongoing digital transformation across industries. BGO’s approach emphasizes what it describes as a “data science-driven methodology” to identify and deliver precisely what hyperscale users require.

The company’s focus on securing power capacity and developing shovel-ready sites with access to substations, transmission lines, and fiber networks addresses critical bottlenecks in the current development landscape. This comprehensive approach aims to provide hyperscale users with the scale, speed, and certainty they need in today’s competitive and power-constrained environment.

Future Implications for Industrial Real Estate

This significant investment in data center infrastructure represents a broader trend of industrial real estate evolving to accommodate digital infrastructure needs. The convergence of traditional industrial expertise with digital infrastructure requirements is creating new opportunities for developers and investors who can navigate the complex intersection of real estate, power infrastructure, and technology requirements.

As BGO and NorthPoint move forward with their development plans, the industry will be watching closely to see how this substantial capital deployment shapes the competitive landscape for data center development in key US markets.

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