In Virginia alone, 15.4 gigawatts of data center power are queued for deployment. This isn’t just a local anomaly—it’s a bellwether for the commercial real estate industry.
Power, not floor plans, is now the defining factor in a building’s long-term value. Tomorrow’s tenants don’t just want space—they demand infrastructure.
The New Anchor: Power and Connectivity
As cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and machine learning accelerate, global energy consumption for compute workloads is set to nearly double in the next five years. That puts new pressure on the CRE industry to prioritize energy readiness and digital infrastructure above traditional metrics like rent rolls or aesthetics.
Properties with utility approvals and fiber access have become the gold standard for forward-looking development. These aren’t add-ons—they’re prerequisites for buildings that want to attract tenants in the data-driven economy.
From Curb Appeal to Grid Appeal
In this new playbook, the conversations are changing. Developers still ask, “Where’s the lobby?” But infrastructure teams are asking, “Where’s the substation?”
The top-performing real estate markets are no longer defined by skyline views or walkability alone. They now compete on three strategic fronts:
- Sites with pre-approved megawatt-scale utility feeds
- Rural corridors along long-haul fiber routes and resilient grid capacity
- Acreage that supports repeatable, scalable campus expansion
This shift is shaping the next era of smart building development, where network resilience and power capacity are more valuable than polished entryways.
Smart Buildings Demand Smart Infrastructure
A property that can’t reliably deliver electrons or packets won’t lease to tomorrow’s tenants. And the stakes are only getting higher.
In this new reality:
- Data is the true tenant.
- Power is the anchor client.
- Everything else is decor.
To compete in the age of smart infrastructure, real estate developers must integrate network management, energy strategy, and digital transformation from the ground up.
If your building can't feed servers, it can’t feed your bottom line.
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