Boston internet company expands northward with deal for Portland data center

By Mainebiz Staff, February 16, 2022

A Boston internet company has made its first foray into Maine with the acquisition of a data center building at 340 Cumberland Ave. in Portland. (direct link to original Mainebiz article)

Deep Edge Realty bought the property from Northland Enterprises, a commercial real estate developer and manager in Portland. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Deep Edge is a growing internet infrastructure company with operations in Nevada and North Carolina, according to a news release.

A Boston internet infrastructure company made its first foray into Maine with the acquisition of a data center building at 340 Cumberland Ave. in Portland.

The company expects the Portland presence to help bring more content, data and cloud services closer to users, while providing options to decrease network costs and improve resiliency.

“We see an opportunity to build on the area’s existing infrastructure by attracting new and current market participants to bolster the region’s capabilities,” Martin Hannigan, Deep Edge founder and CEO, said in the release.

Northland had owned and managed the building since 2017 and will partner with Deep Edge to provide property management services.

“This is a perfect synthesis of opportunity and capability,” Northland’s CEO, Josh Benthien, said of the sale. “340 Cumberland already has several carriers on-site that contribute to its status as the premier interconnection hub of Maine.” 

The eight-story, 52,272-square-foot Class B building dates back to 1924, according to Northland.

Located in downtown Portland, its space is today used as a high-security data center — sometimes called a “carrier hotel.” Associated systems include high bandwidth redundant fiber feeds, redundant conduit runs, carrier interconnect capabilities, an on-site diesel generator for common areas, and space for tenants to install their own generator serving their space. 

Consisting of fireproof concrete construction, the building was originally designed for secure record storage but has since been converted to telecommunications use. 

The building offers a secure loading area with a garage bay and an access control system allowing for 24/7 access for tenants. 

Tenants include Verizon, GWI, First Light and Spectrum.