Digital Realty Trust has completed the acquisition of a six-building portfolio consisting of operating data centers and office space totaling about 337,000 sq ft at the MetCenter Business Park in Austin, Texas, for US$31.9m, the company announced Thursday.

The portfolio is] 90% leased to a variety of data center, biotechnology, technology and telecommunications companies. Two of the buildings, totaling about 100,000 sq ft, are operating data centers that are 100% leased to three tenants, and the remaining four are office space.

Scott Peterson, chief acquisitions officer at Digital Realty, said the deal achieved a number of key objectives for the company. “It expands our existing data center footprint in the Austin market, while providing stable cash flow immediately at an attractive going-in cap rate,” he said.

“Second, it provides near-term opportunity to add value by lease existing vacant space. And third, it offers the option to convert a portion of the property to data center space over the longer term as leases expire.”

The six buildings are located adjacent to Digital Realty's data center at 7500 Metro Center Dr., approximately five miles southeast of the Austin central business district and near th Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.

The company's CEO Michael Foust, said the acquisition added inventory in a high-demand market. “This acquisition adds inventory to a market where we have already seen substantial absorption at our existing facilities, as well as strong demand from enterprise customers,” he said.

“It is a continuation of our strategy of growing a world class data center portfolio in markets where our customers want to be located.”