Data Center and Colocation Advisory
Today's available inventory is easy to locate. The inventory coming online in the next 24 months is not listed anywhere. Density is as much a constraint as power, and Elk Run is the matchmaker between what exists and who needs it.
Most data center advice starts with a facility list. That is the last step, not the first.
The market moved when utility interconnection queues stretched past what any construction schedule can absorb. The question stopped being which building has room. It became:
- Which sites have power that is already committed
- How long the queue is where it is not
- Whether building is faster than leasing at your required capacity
Those answers are not on a broker sheet.
What we cover
Powered land and site selection, build and development advisory, colocation research and procurement, interconnection design, and the contract itself.
Where it comes from
Our background is operator side: years inside CoreSite, Cologix, Flexential, Expedient, and UPSTACK, pricing colocation agreements before they went to customers. That is why the site work starts with utility capacity rather than square footage.
It is also the reason Elk Run has access to off-market powered land. These are sites that never reach a listing, because they move through relationships with landowners, utility planners, and developers.
How this is paid for
Elk Run is paid by the vendors. There is no fee to the client for the advisory work. Compensation does not vary by which provider is selected, and every shortlist includes options across the full market. If the right answer is staying where you are, that is the recommendation you get.
Start where it applies
Two paths through this work. One starts with an expiring contract. One starts with a site that has no power yet.
You have a footprint number and no growth model
You need capacity in a market where nothing is available
Your server room is at its power, cooling, or lease limit
Cross-connect and remote hands charges keep landing outside budget
A renewal is approaching and the escalator was never negotiated
Growth Requirements and Capacity Planning
Most organizations approach the data center market with a current footprint number and no growth model. Providers price against that. A two to three year requirement scoped before the first conversation changes what gets quoted and how long you can commit to it without overpaying on a term you will outgrow.
Scope the requirement
- Current footprint: measured draw, committed capacity, and what is actually deployed
- Application growth: which workloads are expanding, at what rate, and whether AI or GPU compute changes the density requirement
- Timeline: when additional capacity must be live, and what the penalty is for being wrong by a quarter
- Flexibility requirements: whether the agreement needs expansion rights, contraction options, or staged ramp
- Market constraints: which markets can actually deliver at the required timeline, and which cannot
Most common finding
A requirement built from today's footprint plus a percentage, with no application-level growth model behind the number.
A provider who sees a two to three year scoped requirement with a defined growth model and a real decision timeline will price it differently than a buyer who walked in asking for two cabinets with an option to expand. The work is done before the first provider conversation, not after.
Powered Land and Site Selection
Available land is common. Land with power you can actually energize on your timeline is not. Site selection starts at the utility, then works backward to the parcel.
Qualify the site
- Utility interconnection queue position and realistic energization date
- Existing substation capacity within reach, and the cost to extend it
- Off-market parcels surfaced through landowner and developer relationships
- Fiber routes and carrier presence at the parcel, not at the nearest metro
- Zoning, water availability, and local permitting history for similar builds
Most common finding
Sites marketed as shovel-ready with a queue position that lands well past the schedule the buyer is working to.
A parcel priced as powered land and a parcel with a signed interconnection agreement are different assets by a wide margin, and both get marketed the same way. The document to ask for is the utility's written capacity commitment, and the answer to how long that takes tells you what you are actually buying.
Colocation Research and Procurement
A room hits its ceiling in one of three places: power, cooling, or the lease. Which one decides whether you need two cabinets or a cage, and whether you have twelve months or three.
Scope and compare
- Measured kW per cabinet at peak, not nameplate or breaker totals
- Density target: 5 kW cabinets versus 15 kW with containment
- Redundancy the applications actually require: N+1 versus true 2N
- Design PUE against measured PUE for the past twelve months
- Facility ownership and whether the building is mid-sale or refinancing
Most common finding
A requirement written from breaker capacity rather than measured draw, sized roughly double what the deployment actually needs.
Most requirement documents overstate density and understate growth, which is the expensive combination. You pay for power you never draw while committing to a footprint you outgrow in year three.
Interconnection Planning
Cross-connects and remote hands are almost never in the base rent, so they arrive later as variance. Every fiber pair, every carrier handoff, and every after-hours ticket carries its own recurring price.
Count and cap
- Cross-connect monthly recurring per pair, plus the nonrecurring install fee
- Remote hands rate, minimum billing increment, and after-hours multiplier
- Carrier count in the meet-me room, verified per building
- Cloud on-ramps on site versus a metro connection away
- Diverse entrance facilities and physically separate conduit into the building
Most common finding
Two carriers presented as diversity, both riding the same conduit into the same entrance facility.
Cross-connect revenue is a margin line, not a cost recovery line, which is exactly why it is defensible in negotiation and rarely volunteered. Fixed counts, capped rates, and waived connections between your own cabinets are ordinary outcomes when they are raised before signature.
Terms and Negotiation
Renewals are where an escalator compounds quietly. Three percent a year on a seven year term is a very different number than it looked like on day one. This is the point to reset rate, term, and the clauses nobody read the first time.
Redline the agreement
- Annual escalator: fixed percent, CPI linked, or held flat
- Ramp schedule tied to actual deployment, not billing convenience
- Holdover rate and the notice window before automatic renewal
- Power billed on committed draw versus metered actual usage
- Expansion rights and right of first refusal on adjacent capacity
Most common finding
An escalator accepted at the vendor default, compounding on a term long enough that it outweighs the discount that was negotiated.
Rate is the least flexible line in a colocation deal, because the sales team is measured on headline rate and given room nearly everywhere else: escalator, ramp, holdover, cross-connect counts, and expansion rights. We know where that room sits from pricing and approving these agreements from inside CoreSite and Cologix.
How the engagement runs
Define the requirement
We start at the utility and the contract dates. Committed capacity, measured draw, queue position where a build is in play, and what is expiring.
Compare the market
The requirement goes to the providers and sites that can actually meet the timeline, and responses come back on terms that can be read side by side.
Negotiate terms
Pricing, term length, service levels, and exit language are settled before signature rather than discovered on the first invoice.
Oversee activation
We stay in the project through installation, porting, and acceptance, and we escalate on the client's behalf when dates slip.
What you walk away with
Depending on scope.
A site qualification report covering utility capacity, queue position, fiber, and permitting for each parcel considered
A two to three year capacity model with growth scenarios, density requirements, and timeline constraints
A scored facility comparison covering every building toured, with diligence notes
A redline summary listing each clause changed, each clause declined, and why
Questions we get
The first conversation is a scoping call, not a pitch.
We ask what you have, what is expiring, and what is not working, then tell you whether there is work here worth doing. If Elk Run is not the right fit for the decision in front of you, we will say so.