Data Centers
Williams Mullen has a comprehensive team of attorneys and other professionals who assist developers, owners, investors, lenders, tenants, contractors and operators on all aspects of the development, financing, leasing, acquisition, construction and operation for large-scale data center projects throughout Virginia and the Southeastern U.S. Our data center clients call on our diverse team of knowledgeable and experienced attorneys to help guide them through all aspects of the data center development life cycle.
Leveraging our seven offices throughout Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina and over 250 attorneys, Williams Mullen offers a full spectrum of solutions-based legal services needed to support the diverse needs of data center clients.
Our full-service team uses a multidisciplinary approach to assist our data center clients and understand their goals and objectives, with the goal to seamlessly handle their most complex projects including the following:
- Real Estate and Land Use:
- Site acquisition and due diligence
- Real estate contracting, including options to purchase or lease, easements, leases and property acquisitions
- Land use, siting and permitting approvals
- Environmental:
- Environmental compliance, auditing and counseling
- Permitting and enforcement
- Environmental impact reviews
- Government Relations:
- State and local government relations
- Energy:
- Energy supply and contracting
- Energy permitting
- Tax:
- Counseling and structuring of state and local tax incentives
- Local property tax assessments, exemptions, and credits
- Project acquisition and sale (M&A):
- Due diligence
- Term sheets/letters of intent
- Acquisition/disposition
- Joint ventures
- Sale/leaseback
- Construction:
- Design-build/EPC construction contracts
- Construction contracts and disputes
- Corporate and Finance:
- Entity formation and corporate transactions
- Project finance
- Construction loans, term loans, revolvers, and mezzanine debt
- Data Privacy and Security:
- Privacy, data security, confidentiality and other policies and procedures
- Data breach prevention and notification
- Data storage, processing and cloud computing contracts
- Regulatory requirements for processing and storage of personal data
Experience
Experience:
- Represented a provider of global infrastructure solutions in land use approvals and development of a data center in Charles City County, VA.
- Serve as outside counsel to a large technology company in connection with land use, real estate and environmental matters related to the development of data center campuses in Northern Virginia.
- Served as local counsel for a data center lease as tenant’s counsel.
- Representing a global provider of digital communications infrastructure on the development of two data storage facilities on sites in Raleigh and Charlotte, NC.
- Represented a data center company with options for getting access to electric power.
- Represented a technology conglomerate in government relations matters, including lobbying on measures related to tax and finance, water usage, environmental impacts, local land use authority, and data privacy.
- Represented an owner and operator of data centers in government relations matters, including lobbying on legislation related to energy usage, water usage, environmental impacts, local land use authority, and tax and finance, as well as assistance with economic development initiatives.
- Represented a boutique investment firm in the sale of a $40 million piece of real estate zoned to be used as a data center to a real estate investment trust.
