Digital Realty Trust Reports Leasing Activity for the Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2009
February 10 2010 - 3:20PM
PR Newswire (US)
Lease signings for 2009 represent approximately $472 million in
contract value SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR), a leading owner and manager
of corporate and Internet gateway datacenters, announced today the
results of its leasing activity for both the fourth quarter and
full year 2009. For the full year 2009, lease signings represent
over $472 million in total cash contract value. "We are very
pleased with our leasing results for both the fourth quarter and
full year 2009, particularly in light of last year's challenging
economic conditions," commented Michael F. Foust, CEO of Digital
Realty Trust. "The measured approach we took over the year of
aligning our redevelopment activity with real demand for our
products, particularly Turn-Key Datacenter space, allowed us to
manage our capital allocation and meet our return on investment
objectives. This disciplined approach to our investment strategy,
combined with our scale and ability to drive down development
costs, has resulted in an expected average return on invested
capital for our Turn-Key space of over 14% for the year." Average
return on invested capital is defined at the end of this press
release. For the year ended December 31, 2009, the Company
commenced leases totaling approximately 757,000 square feet. This
includes over 369,000 square feet of Turn-Key Datacenter® space
leased at an average annual GAAP rental rate of $177.00 per square
foot, approximately 194,000 square feet of Powered Base Building®
space leased at an average annual GAAP rental rate of $59.00 per
square foot, and approximately 194,000 square feet of non-technical
space leased at an average annual GAAP rental rate of $17.00 per
square foot. For the quarter ended December 31, 2009, the Company
commenced leases totaling approximately 91,000 square feet of
space. This includes nearly 53,000 square feet of Turn-Key
Datacenter® space leased at an average annual GAAP rental rate of
$173.00 per square foot, approximately 20,000 square feet of
Powered Base Building® space leased at an average annual GAAP
rental rate of $29.00 per square foot, and approximately 18,000
square feet of non-technical space leased at an average annual GAAP
rental rate of $22.00 per square foot. For the year ended December
31, 2009, the Company signed leases totaling approximately 434,000
square feet. This includes approximately 332,000 square feet of
Turn-Key Datacenter® space leased at an average annual GAAP rental
rate of $158.00 per square foot, over 35,000 square feet of Powered
Base Building® space leased at an average annual GAAP rental rate
of $27.00 per square foot, and approximately 67,000 square feet of
non-technical space leased at an average annual GAAP rental rate of
$22.00 per square foot. For the quarter ended December 31, 2009,
the Company signed leases totaling approximately 156,000 square
feet of space. This includes approximately 116,000 square feet of
Turn-Key Datacenter space leased at an average annual GAAP rental
rate of $126.00 per square foot, approximately 30,000 square feet
of Powered Base Building space leased at an average annual GAAP
rental rate of $26.00 per square foot, and approximately 10,000
square feet of non-technical space leased at an average annual GAAP
rental rate of $31.00 per square foot. The leasing results include
all activity at the Company's consolidated joint venture property.
For the year ended December 31, 2009, the Company signed lease
renewals totaling approximately 1.3 million square feet, resulting
in a 22.5% increase in GAAP rent for the leases renewed. "The high
level of leases renewed during the year reflects the mission
critical nature of our customers' operations in our facilities. We
also added a number of new, large corporate enterprise customers
along with leading IT service providers and global system
integrators to our roster, demonstrating the widespread adoption of
our Turn-Key Datacenter® product," Mr. Foust added. "In addition to
our acquisitions activity, our ability to meet the demand for
datacenter space through our redevelopment program continues to be
an important source of growth for the Company." Digital Realty
Trust Turn-Key Datacenter facilities provide state-of-the-art
environments for supporting mission critical infrastructure, with
advanced cooling, power, redundancy, and sustainability features to
ensure that critical applications are available while optimizing
energy efficiency. Digital Realty Trust's Turn-Key Datacenters are
scalable from hundreds of kilowatts of IT Load to megawatts of IT
load and are located in markets throughout North America and
Europe. Each Turn-Key Datacenter facility is physically secure and
features a state-of-the-art power and cooling architecture that has
been optimized for green operation. Every Turn-Key Datacenter is
built using the company's proprietary POD Architecture® and uses
metered power to ensure that clients pay only for the power that
they use. Average Return on Invested Capital Average return on
invested capital for Turn-Key space is calculated by dividing the
expected annualized net operating income generated by each Turn-Key
lease by the sum of the allocated acquisition costs, construction
costs, tenant improvements and leasing commissions incurred in
connection with each Turn-Key lease. The net operating income is
calculated by subtracting the estimated annualized, first-year
stabilized recurring expenses with respect to each Turn-Key lease
from the anticipated first-year stabilized cash rental revenue
generated by each lease. Turn-Key leases generating less than
$500,000 per year in annualized rent were excluded from the
calculation. About Digital Realty Trust, Inc. Digital Realty Trust,
Inc. owns, acquires, redevelops, develops and manages
technology-related real estate. The Company is focused on providing
Turn-Key Datacenter® and Powered Base Building® datacenter
solutions for domestic and international tenants across a variety
of industry verticals ranging from information technology and
Internet enterprises, to manufacturing and financial services.
Digital Realty Trust's 84 properties, excluding one property held
as an investment in an unconsolidated joint venture, contain
applications and operations critical to the day-to-day operations
of technology industry tenants and corporate enterprise datacenter
tenants. Comprising approximately 14.9 million rentable square feet
as of January 25, 2010, including 1.9 million square feet of space
held for redevelopment, Digital Realty Trust's portfolio is located
in 27 markets throughout North America and Europe. For additional
information, please visit Digital Realty Trust's website at
http://www.digitalrealtytrust.com/. Turn-Key Datacenter, Powered
Base Building and POD Architecture are registered trademarks of
Digital Realty Trust. Safe Harbor Statement This press release
contains forward-looking statements which are based on current
expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to
differ materially, including statements related to the company's
average return on invested capital and expected net operating
income generated by leases, which are based on forward-looking
assumptions with respect to income and expenses. These risks and
uncertainties include adverse economic or real estate developments
in the Company's markets; general economic slow-downs or
recessions; reductions in information technology spending;
difficulties in or inability to lease space, including redeveloped
space; construction and development delays; increased development
costs; tenant bankruptcies or defaults under leases by tenants;
failure to commence rental payments on time under signed leases;
increased interest rates; increased operating costs; failure to
obtain necessary outside financing; decreased rental rates or
increased vacancy rates; difficulties in identifying properties to
acquire; completing acquisitions at all or at acceptable return
levels; failure to successfully operate properties; failure of
existing, acquired or redeveloped properties to perform as
expected; reductions in property values; failure to maintain the
Company's status as a REIT; environmental uncertainties and risks
related to natural disasters; financial market fluctuations;
changes in foreign currency exchange rates; risks of operating in
foreign markets; and changes in real estate and zoning laws and
increases in real property tax rates. For a further list and
description of such risks and uncertainties, see the reports and
other filings by the Company with the United States Securities and
Exchange Commission, including the Company's annual report on Form
10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008 and the Company's
quarterly reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31,
2009, June 30, 2009 and September 30, 2009. The Company disclaims
any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking
statements, whether as a result of new information, future events
or otherwise. For Additional Information:
--------------------------- A. William Stein Pamela A. Matthews
Chief Financial Officer and Director of Investor Relations Chief
Investment Officer Digital Realty Trust, Inc. Digital Realty Trust,
Inc. +1 415-738-6500 +1 415-738-6500 DATASOURCE: Digital Realty
Trust, Inc. CONTACT: A. William Stein, Chief Financial Officer and
Chief Investment Officer, or Pamela A. Matthews, Director of
Investor Relations, both of Digital Realty Trust, Inc.,
+1-415-738-6500 Web Site: http://www.digitalrealtytrust.com/
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