Five transactions printed this week, and for once none of them needed a gigawatt to be interesting. A private equity platform bought ten metro boxes at $4.25 million a megawatt. Eleven banks committed $800 million against five suburban halls at $5.93 million a megawatt. A Nasdaq microcap papered a seller note that does not amortize until the utility shows up. And a grocery-store holding company with $900,000 in the bank asked its shareholders to approve a $425 million valuation built on a lease nobody has signed.
Put those side by side and the sub-75 MW market has, briefly, a legible price. Used capacity trades around $4 million a megawatt. New capacity gets built for about $6 million. The one rent figure anyone put on paper this week runs $60 to $76 million a year against 40 to 47 MW — call it $1.5 million per megawatt-year. Every deal below sits under 75 MW at the site level, and no exceptions were needed to fill the issue, which is itself the signal. The money that used to only move in gigawatt blocks is now buying 5 MW switch rooms in Stockton.
$869 a Foot for Sprint's Old Long-Haul Switch Rooms
I Squared Capital launched Saragon on Tuesday, and the disclosure that came with the launch is the most useful comp set printed this month. Ten facilities across nine markets — Chicago, Atlanta, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Kansas City, Baltimore, Houston, Nashville and Stockton — carrying 53 MW of installed capacity across 259,000 square feet. The portfolio came out of Cogent Fiber for $225 million in cash, a sale Cogent closed on June 29; the platform, the management team and the site-level numbers only surfaced with the August 19 launch release.
Do the division and you get $4.25 million per installed megawatt, or $869 a square foot, for an average site of 5.3 MW and 25,900 square feet. These are former Sprint long-haul switching sites, built in the 1980s and 1990s, sold to Cogent for a dollar in 2022. Their virtue was never the slab — it is the fiber that terminates in them and the fact that they are inside the metros rather than ninety minutes outside. At 205 watts per square foot the portfolio is not an AI building. It is an option on becoming one, and I Squared has put up to $1 billion behind converting it, which is roughly $19 million of dry powder per megawatt of seeded base. Steve Orlando, ex-Seaborn Networks, runs it out of Phoenix; Kevin Dalton, previously chief data center officer at Talen's Cumulus, is president.
The interesting part is who did not buy this. A hyperscaler would not take a fragmented ten-site retail colo portfolio at any price. A REIT would choke on the tenancy. It took an infrastructure fund willing to underwrite the retrofit spread between 205 W/sf and whatever liquid cooling can get these rooms to.
Deal specs. Sponsor: Saragon (I Squared Capital) · Seller: Cogent Fiber LLC · Site: 10 facilities, 9 metros — Chicago, Atlanta, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Kansas City, Baltimore, Houston, Nashville, Stockton; all inner-ring metro, individual addresses n/d · Footprint: 259 ksf colocation, ~25.9 ksf average per site · Load: 53 MW installed (~205 W/sf, ~5.3 MW average per site) · Structure: all-cash fee acquisition, closed June 29, platform disclosed August 19; up to $1B committed sponsor capital · Tenant credit: mixed retail, enterprise and wholesale colo tenancy; sponsor institutional · Deal value: $225M — $4.25M/MW, $869/sf · Source: DCD.
Eleven Banks, $800 Million, and Not One Signed Tenant
Flexential closed an $800 million dedicated development facility on August 18, upsized 60 percent from a $500 million target and oversubscribed by an eleven-bank syndicate with TD Securities as administrative agent and RBC and J.P. Morgan alongside as coordinating leads. It funds 135 MW across five sites, none of them larger than 36 MW: 36 MW under construction in Atlanta-Douglasville, 36 MW under construction in Portland-Hillsboro with a second 36 MW planned behind it, 22.5 MW under construction in Denver-Parker, and a 4.5 MW expansion bolted onto the existing Atlanta-Norcross site.
That is $5.93 million per committed megawatt, drawn from planning through delivery, against capacity that is not pre-leased. Banks financing spec construction at 20-to-36 MW scale in Douglasville and Hillsboro is a different risk posture than the one that existed eighteen months ago, and the syndicate list — Goldman, ING, SMBC, Bank of America, KeyBanc as joint leads, Flagstar, Citi and Investec on co-documentation — reads like the lender group for an asset class that has stopped being exotic.
The release does not disclose square footage, which would normally end the density question. It does not, because Douglas County published it. When commissioners approved a $19.3 million business personal property tax rebate for the Parker site on August 11 — 100 percent of the county's share over 35 years, against 16 jobs — the record put the building at 249,000 square feet at 15255 Compark Boulevard. Against 22.5 MW that is 90 watts per square foot. Flexential is financing enterprise colo, not inference halls, and the density says so plainly. Nothing wrong with that; it is simply a different product than the one the headlines are about, financed at the same per-megawatt number.
Deal specs. Sponsor: Flexential (GI Partners, Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners) · Site: five sites — Douglasville GA (~20 mi W of Atlanta), Hillsboro OR ×2 (~17 mi W of Portland), 15255 Compark Blvd in Douglas County CO marketed as Denver-Parker (~23 mi SE of downtown Denver), Norcross GA (~20 mi NE of Atlanta) · Footprint: 249 ksf at Parker; other four n/d · Load: 135 MW total — 36 / 36 / 36 / 22.5 / 4.5 MW by site. Parker computes to ~90 W/sf · Structure: $800M dedicated development credit facility, 11-bank syndicate, upsized 60% from $500M; tenor, coupon and advance rate n/d · Tenant credit: n/a — spec construction ahead of leasing · Comp: $5.93M per committed MW · Source: DCD.
A Seller Note That Does Not Amortize Until the Utility Shows Up
Duos Edge AI bought a data center at 8 Corporate Ridge Parkway in Columbus, Georgia, together with about 13.7 acres, for $30 million — $15 million cash and a $15 million two-year seller note — and the note is the part worth copying. It bears interest at 0% per annum, sits behind a first-lien security deed on the property, and is payable, in the filing's own words, "as additional power capacity of up to 15 MW is delivered to the property in 5 MW increments." The mechanics live in the 10-Q filed August 19, not the press release. The purchase closed after quarter end.
Read that again as a buyer standing in an interconnection queue. The seller is holding the power risk, in writing, on a small brick-and-mortar site. If the utility does not deliver the next 15 MW, the note does not come due. Anyone negotiating a sub-20 MW acquisition against a queue that will not commit to a date should have this structure on the desk, because it is the cheapest way anyone has priced that risk this year — zero coupon, and the trigger is energization rather than a calendar.
The building is being equipped to support 2,304 NVIDIA B300 GPUs. Management put the company's build cost at "under $6 million a megawatt" on the August 17 call, which brackets Flexential's committed number from the other side. One caution on the anchor tenancy: the July release characterized the counterparty as an investment-grade hyperscaler, while on the call management named Axe Compute, described as a neocloud AI infrastructure platform. Those are not the same credit, and the filings have not reconciled them. Treat the contracted-revenue figures circulating from the July release as unverified against the filings — the note terms above are what the 10-Q actually says.
Deal specs. Sponsor: Duos Edge AI (Duos Technologies Group, Nasdaq: DUOT) · Site: 8 Corporate Ridge Parkway, Columbus, Georgia, within Columbus/Muscogee County city limits; ~13.7 acres · Footprint: n/d — W/sf not computable · Load: path to 20 MW, via up to 15 MW of additional delivered capacity in 5 MW increments · Purchase: $30M — $15M cash plus a $15M two-year seller note at 0% per annum, secured by a first-lien security deed, payable only as capacity is delivered · Lease: anchor lease terms n/d in the filings; July release figures unreconciled · Tenant credit: unreconciled — "investment-grade hyperscaler" in July, named as neocloud Axe Compute on the August 17 call · Build cost: "under $6M a megawatt," per management · Source: DUOT 10-Q.
A $425 Million Valuation on a Lease Nobody Has Signed
Host Digital Infrastructure is taking a northeast Oklahoma data center public through Healthy Choice Wellness Corp, the NYSE American-listed owner of a Richmond grocery store and a Kansas natural foods chain. Host's unitholders take roughly 96 percent of the pro forma company, and the shareholder vote lands Thursday. The HCWC board put $425 million on Host Digital, derived from a discounted cash flow on the Oklahoma project alone, with no credit for pipeline.
Read the assumptions underneath that DCF, because they are unusually candid. A 15-year initial lease term. Year-one base rent of approximately $60 million to $76 million, based on 40 to 47 MW of critical IT load, increasing 3 percent annually thereafter. Total contract value over the initial term projected at $1.1 billion to $1.4 billion. Divide it out and the rent runs roughly $125 to $135 a kilowatt-month in year one, or about $1.5 million per megawatt-year — the only rent number anyone put on paper in this market this week, and a useful one.
Then read the sentence that follows the assumptions in the DEF 14A: the analysis rests on "the terms discussed between Host Digital and the prospective tenant, as reflected in the drafts of the lease agreement exchanged." Drafts. The lease is not executed, the load is an expression of interest in a range rather than a contracted number, and the tenant is unnamed. No fairness opinion was obtained; the board concluded one was not necessary "given current market conditions and sentiment around artificial intelligence infrastructure and data centers." That is a remarkable thing to write down.
The proxy also does not say where the building is. Northeast Oklahoma is the finest geographic granularity in the document — no county, no city, no parcel. And the shell carries substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern, with $0.9 million of cash and negative $6.6 million of working capital at June 30. The rent math is sound. What sits under it is a draft.
Deal specs. Sponsor: Host Digital Infrastructure LLC, merging into Healthy Choice Wellness Corp (NYSE American: HCWC); Host holders take ~96% · Site: "northeast Oklahoma" — no city, county or parcel disclosed anywhere in the proxy · Footprint: n/d — W/sf not computable · Load: 40–47 MW of critical IT load, per the prospective tenant's indication of interest — not contracted · Lease: unexecuted. Drafts exchanged for a 15-yr initial term, $60–76M year-one base rent, 3% annual escalator; Host targets NNN with credit-enhanced counterparties · Tenant credit: unnamed prospective tenant, characterized as investment-grade in the DCF · Valuation: $425M, DCF on this project alone, no fairness opinion obtained · Rent comp: ~$125–135/kW-month year one; $1.1–1.4B projected over the initial term · Source: SEC DEF 14A.
Keel Handed Back Ten Megawatts to Keep Eighteen
Keel Infrastructure — Bitfarms until the rebrand — committed $128.7 million to Vertiv under a turnkey agreement for 18 MW on six acres in Moses Lake, Washington, and relinquished its option on an adjacent 10 MW to do it. That is $7.15 million per megawatt for equipment and EPC alone, before land and shell, and it is the highest per-megawatt number in this issue by a wide margin — which is what buying a turnkey delivery from a single vendor costs when you want the capacity commissioned rather than scheduled.
The give-back is the story. A developer with an option on 28 MW chose 18, on six acres, inside Moses Lake city limits and about twenty miles east of the Quincy hyperscale cluster. That is three megawatts an acre on Grant County PUD hydro, in a Columbia Basin market where the power is cheap and the queue is the constraint. The old bitcoin building came down — more than a thousand cubic yards of concrete removed — and the permit went in as "Grant Node Data Center." Mining at the site stopped on April 28.
No tenant. Keel is building this on spec while it talks to AI firms and GPU clouds, which puts it in the same posture as Flexential's Hillsboro halls and Saragon's retrofit thesis: capacity first, credit later. Portfolio PUE is guided at 1.15 to 1.35. Building square footage has not been specced, so there is no watts-per-square-foot to compute yet — which, on a six-acre site with 18 MW behind it, is the number to ask for the moment they publish it.
Deal specs. Sponsor: Keel Infrastructure (formerly Bitfarms); Vertiv turnkey EPC, Turner Construction permittee · Site: six acres within Moses Lake city limits, Grant County WA, ~20 mi E of the Quincy hyperscale cluster; permitted as "Grant Node Data Center" · Footprint: n/d — building not yet specced; W/sf not computable · Load: 18 MW, with an adjacent 10 MW option relinquished (~3.0 MW per acre) · Lease: none — owner-developer spec build, commercial talks underway with AI and GPU-cloud operators · Power: Grant County PUD hydro; portfolio PUE guided 1.15–1.35 · Deal value: $128.7M Vertiv commitment — ~$7.15M/MW, equipment and EPC only · Source: Data Center Frontier.
What to Watch Next Week
Healthy Choice Wellness shareholders vote Thursday, August 27. If it passes, a northeast Oklahoma building with an unnamed tenant and an unsigned lease becomes a $425 million public company. Two things to watch in the post-close disclosure: whether the site location gets named, and whether the lease actually executes on the terms the DCF assumed.
Statesboro, Georgia still owes itself a special use permit. The city council rezoned 26.5 acres at 6539 Burkhalter Road on August 18, three to two, with Mayor Jonathan McCollar breaking the tie twice — once to defeat a motion to deny, once to approve. But the June technological facilities ordinance requires a separate SUP back before council before anything gets built. The concept plan is 230,000 square feet across two stories; the developers have applied to Georgia Power for 99 MW, which they describe as the maximum the adjacent transmission will carry. That is 430 watts per square foot on a building with no tenant — more than double Saragon's portfolio and nearly five times Flexential's Parker hall. Spec-zoned AI density, entitled by tiebreaker.
Kearney, Nebraska city council takes up Project Horizon on September 8. The planning commission recommended a conditional use permit unanimously on August 21 for the Starwood Digital Ventures and MARA partnership at Tech oNE Crossing. Phase 1 runs entirely on an existing crypto mine's 100 MW — same interconnect, same feeder, new building — with 368 MW at full buildout. The city manager projects municipal electricity revenue going from about $2 million a year to $11–13 million. Every small-city power director in the country is about to be shown that slide.
Hanover County supervisors have the last word on Iron Horse. The planning commission backed WestDulles Properties five to two on August 20 for 78 acres off Route 54 near Ashland, after the applicant cut buildable area from 39 acres to 28, dropped height from 110 feet to 75, and went closed-loop the night of the hearing. Supervisors denied a prior version in 2024. No load figure is in the record, and a noise study had not been performed at the time of the vote.
Raeden v. City of Gibraltar is the moratorium test case. The developer filed August 17 over Michigan's Downriver city adopting a total data center prohibition on March 9, weeks after Raeden submitted its application to convert the former McLouth Steel plant at 27800 W. Jefferson to 100 MW of inference capacity. The claim is that the Michigan Zoning Enabling Act forbids total exclusion of a lawful use. With moratoria now live in Tulare County, Spokane County, Alamance, Kalamazoo, Yadkin and Nye, a ruling here travels.
Disclaimer: Edge Cases is Barrio Energy's deal-flow product. Nothing here is investment advice, a recommendation to transact, or a substitute for your own diligence. Specs are sourced from public filings, press, and reporting; verify before you wire anything.
