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One Wilshire Upgrades Power After 'Disruption'

An electrical 'disruption' at One Wilshire has gained the attention of tenants as well as other LA facility owners.

One Wilshire, the most wired carrier hotel in Los Angeles, "experienced a disruption" July 13 in one of its electrical distribution systems, according to landlord CRG West. A post on the NANOG list indicates the issue occurred on the 12th floor. "The building's backup generators came online without delay and ensured the uninterrupted delivery of power to essential building services and to the building's community of communications service providers," CRG West said in a statement to tenants (available on the CRG web site as a Word doc).

"No injuries were sustained related to the disruption and the disruption was isolated to a small area within the building," CRG West said. "However, as a precaution the fire department requested that the building not open for full occupancy on Friday July 14. Following extensive review, tenant access to the building was restored Friday evening July 14."


CRG West emphasized that it had already begun a major upgrade to the building's primary electrical systems, the first phase of which is scheduled to be finished this quarter. "When completed, One Wilshire will have a new, state-of-the-art electrical distribution system, capable of providing nearly 60% more electrical capacity than currently available," the company noted.

But the incident was no doubt unsettling for tenants who were unable to access their equipment for days. That's why, in a period of high demand for premium colo space, Digital Realty Trust (DLR) began offering three free months to companies who lease space in its 600 West 7th Street facility in Los Angeles. More 10,000 square feet of "turn-key" space is available for immediate occupancy in the building and its meet me room.

Digital Realty announced its incentive program for new tenants July 18. "This program is designed to support the needs of companies that have mission critical infrastructure affected by these outages," said Chris Crosby, Senior Vice President of Digital Realty Trust.

It remains to be seen whether tenants at One Wilshire will move. Most telecom buildings in Los Angeles discuss their connectivity in terms of their access to One Wilshire and its huge aggregation of networks and bandwidth. The One Wilshire Building is a 656,300 square-foot, 30-story tower located in the heart of downtown Los Angeles. As a long-standing landmark in the Los Angeles skyline, for over two decades telecommunications firms have called One Wilshire home.

600 West 7th is a 450,000 square carrier hotel. Digital Realty Trust will create an additional 8,700 square feet of raised-floor space out of space with over 700 KW in a 2N UPS configuration previously held for redevelopment in the building, targeted for completion in the fourth quarter of this year.