Insignia/ESG appointed property manager for N.J. data center.

MetroNexus, a New York based company, which specializes in the development of mission critical facilities, has appointed Insignia/ESG as Property Manager and Tishman Technologies as the Construction Manager for a 1.1-million-SF Mission Critical Data Center located at 50 Dey St. in Jersey City.

Insignia/ ESG and Tishman Technologies Will be responsible for a multimillion dollar renovation program enabling the facility to house servers and store data for corporate users, especially those in the financial services industry.

The renovation program will include a new entrance, lobby, security systems, facade upgrade, new landscaping improvements and a state-of-the-art meet-me room. The meet-me room will serve as a central point of connectivity for several carriers including Con Edison Communications, AT&T, Verizon and Looking Glass Networks. The renovation is being engineered by EYP Mission Critical Facilities and designed by Fox & Fowle Architects, both based in New York City.

Given its close proximity to Manhattan, MetroNexus is confident the new multi-tenant facility, which offers significant cost efficiencies, will attract a wide variety of New York City-based corporate tenants. Other advantages of the facility include an active on site substation and $8 million investment in the total building power infrastructure. 50 Dey St.'s location on the New Jersey power grid offers superior capacity and reliability as well as direct access to the Northeast Internet backbone for first-rate bandwidth connectivity.

"The MetroNexus facility meets the stringent power, fiber and security requirements of our most demanding clients" said Gregg Popkin, executive director of Insignia/ESG's Property Management Group. "Our customers, occupying over 26.6 million SF, are all focused on 'business continuity planning' and many are searching for disaster recovery solutions to support their Manhattan operations."

Insignia has successfully retrofitted and equipped two similar, industrial properties, namely 111 Eighth Ave. in Manhattan which was transformed from a Class C low rent property with high vacancy to a Class A building fully leased to telecom and high-end office tenants; and 470 Vanderbilt Ave. in Brooklyn, a former manufacturing structure used for warehousing, which has become a leading telecom/disaster recovery facility.

Insignia/ESG is recognized as the preeminent mission critical service provider in the country. The firm manages and leases other similar facilities nationwide including: One Wilshire in Los Angeles, a 736,000-SF former office property; Lakeside Technology Center in Chicago, a 1.1 million-SF former R.R. Donnelly printing press factory; and Atlanta Xchange, a 644,695-SF premise which shares space with a pre-existing Macy's department store. In New Jersey, Insignia/ESG manages approximately 2.5 million SF of space.

Tishman Technologies, which has completed more than 20 million SF of specialized telecom, data center and.24/ 7 spaces, also brings extensive experience in executing technology solutions for corporate clients including Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, JPMorganChase, Lehman Bros., MetLife, Prudential, MCI WorldCom, Level 3, Cable & Wireless, Nippon and Viatel. Recent New York projects include a the 500,000 square foot Reuters Americas/Instinet Headquarters in New York, a 100,000-SF MCI Network Information Center and, the management and installation of technology infrastructure and communications equipment for a 1.1 million SF financial services firm at 745 7th Ave. in New York.