{"id":1004778382,"date":"2025-11-19T11:07:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T19:07:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/?p=1004778382"},"modified":"2026-04-14T03:16:36","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T11:16:36","slug":"builders-of-the-boom-top-10-data-center-developers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/builders-of-the-boom-top-10-data-center-developers\/","title":{"rendered":"Builders of the Boom: Top 10 Data Center Developers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Exterior<\/a>
QTS’ $10 billion project in Cedar Rapids, Iowa\u2014the largest economic development in the city\u2019s history. Image courtesy of QTS Data Centers<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The U.S. data center real estate market is booming, driven by growing demand for cloud services, AI, edge computing and data storage. AI, still in its infancy, is the primary catalyst for expansion, and it’s driving innovation around sustainability and energy sources. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to a mid-year JLL report<\/a>, 73 percent of the U.S. construction pipeline is preleased, and colocation vacancy is nearly 0 percent. Even with tremendous data center construction, JLL is forecasting vacancy below 5 percent through 2027, but it most likely will hold at 2 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“AI demand is growing so fast that the traditional model of building a data center and waiting for the utility to deliver power just isn\u2019t workable anymore,” said Jason Bell, vice president of technology services for JLL. “Developers are being forced to rethink everything. We\u2019re moving from grid-dependent campuses to hybrid sites that bring some of their own power.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full off-grid facilities will come, Bell said, but they\u2019re still a few years out because we need more natural-gas capacity, better large-scale battery solutions and federal approval for technologies like small modular nuclear reactors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n

CPE Capital Markets Newsletter<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Executive Editor Therese Fitzgerald delivers the capital markets intel that moves the needle.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n \n \n \n \n \n\n