Alternative investment manager Ares Management Corporation has expanded its data center platform Ada Infrastructure into the US, acquiring land in Virginia for a new campus.

The company this week announced two data center transactions in the US by Ares Real Assets funds.

The Ares Digital Infrastructure business, through an Ares fund, has acquired a 314-acre site along the I-95 South data center corridor in Spotsylvania County, Virginia. The site is expected to be developed and operated by Ada Infrastructure. The first phase of development is expected to comprise two data center buildings totaling 200MW of IT load capacity.

In Loudoun County’s Leesburg, Virginia, an Ares Real Estate fund has acquired two data centers. The facilities total 745,000 sq ft (69,212 sqm) and 165MW of IT load capacity. Built this year, the data centers are fully leased under 15-year triple-net agreements with an unnamed “leading, investment-grade hyperscale customer.”

Further details on both purchases were not shared.

“We are excited to further expand our digital infrastructure presence in the US through these recent acquisitions in one of the world’s largest data center markets,” said Michael Steele, head of Ares Digital Infrastructure. “Our site acquisition in Spotsylvania County advances the global positioning of Ada Infrastructure through a project in a supply-constrained tier one market that continues to see accelerating demand from hyperscale customers. These acquisitions leverage our differentiated platform capabilities as we aim to deliver near-term capacity to our customers, value to local communities, and opportunities to our investors.”

Founded in 1997, California-based Ares has more than $595 billion of assets under management. The company acquired real estate firm GLP Capital Partners’ (GCP) international business last year, taking over its Ada Infrastructure data center unit in the process.

“The acquisition of two stabilized data centers underscores Ares’ high conviction in New Economy real assets and Ares Real Estate’s ability to deploy flexible capital at scale,” said David Roth, global head of real estate strategy and growth in Ares Real Estate. “Northern Virginia represents an attractive, rapidly growing, and critical data center market, and these assets, in combination with their investment-grade tenant and triple-net-lease structure, provide predictable cash flows, portfolio diversification, and strong upside potential. We look forward to supporting the long-term value creation opportunity of these investments.”

Launched in 2023, Ada has multiple large hyperscale development projects in development globally, with upwards of 1GW of capacity planned across markets including London, Tokyo, Osaka, São Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro.

Developments include a 210MW data center campus in East London’s Royal Docks, which was awarded a resolution to grant planning in June 2024, and the 31MW Tokyo West 1 campus, the groundbreaking of which was announced in May 2024.

While Northern Virginia is the data center capital of the world, Spotsylvania County, located south of Culpeper County, isn’t known for data center development. However, a number of new large-scale projects are being planned in the area.