Blackstart Digital Acquires Former IBM Campus for Data Center Expansion
Blackstart Digital, a new data center developer, has acquired the former IBM Almaden Research Center in San Jose, California. The deal for the 35-acre campus, which includes seven buildings and over 500,000 square feet of space, is expected to close before the end of the year. Blackstart has already filed for an environmental review for renovations, with plans to expand the existing 25MW substation. The company aims to honor the site's legacy while repurposing it for data center use, leaving over 500 acres of open space undeveloped.
The San Jose City Council recently rezoned the campus as an industrial park zoning district, clearing the way for data center development. The Sierra Club had opposed the rezoning due to concerns about potential data center expansion. Little is known about Blackstart Digital, which was co-founded last year by Chadwick Manning, a veteran of renewable energy and power firms. Other executives at the company include alumni from Digital Realty and Deutsche Telekom.
IBM put the Almaden site on the market after deciding to relocate its staff to a new Silicon Valley Lab. The campus has a rich history of innovation, including the development of the first inkjet printer prototype, the first hard-disk drive, the relational database, and DVD and Blu-ray encryption. It was also the site where IBM's TrueNorth brain-inspired neurosynaptic chip was developed.