Digital Realty Commemorates New Illinois Data Center Tax Incentives

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 7, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Digital Realty (NYSE: DLR), a leading global provider of data center, colocation, and interconnection solutions, hosted Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, state legislators and local leaders at its landmark 350 East Cermak Road facility in Chicago earlier today to commemorate newly enacted tax incentives for the data center industry in Illinois. Digital Realty, along with a coalition of data center operators and providers, the Illinois Chamber of Commerce and the labor community, worked together alongside lawmakers on the new legislation which exempts qualifying data centers from certain state and local taxes. This legislation is expected to generate data center demand and drive economic growth, reestablishing Illinois as a leading national data center destination.

"We congratulate Governor Pritzker, the General Assembly, the labor-business coalition, and many others who had the foresight to appreciate how important these incentives are to retain and attract data center business to the great state of Illinois," said Digital Realty Chief Executive Officer A. William Stein, who attended the event. "These incentives for data center customers are a win-win that will create 21^st century jobs and serve as an economic catalyst for the state of Illinois. With these incentives, Illinois will be even better positioned to directly benefit from the growth of the digital economy and attract new talent and industry to the state."  

Under the new legislation, qualifying data centers must invest, or have invested, at least $250 million, meet green building standards and employ 20 or more full-time employees. Additional incentives are also available for data centers located in economically disadvantaged areas. This legislation is expected to attract new data center customers to Illinois and will also benefit existing data center customers by incentivizing them to refresh their investments in high-value, high-tech equipment. With this new law, Illinois has further positioned itself as a nationally leading data center market, with competitive pricing, robust power infrastructure, a skilled workforce, extensive fiber infrastructure and a low risk of natural disasters.  

The new incentives are designed to benefit local communities through high-quality job creation, economic stimulus and neighborhood revitalization. Specifically, they aim to drive capital improvements that will ultimately increase Illinois' tax base. In addition, data centers create innovation hubs that bring high-paying jobs in the construction and IT industries.

As an Illinois data center operator since 2005 with 3.3 million square feet of data center capacity in the state, Digital Realty welcomes the benefits for its nearly 400 Illinois data center customers—and all Illinoisans – and looks forward to continued growth in the state. With data centers already located in Elk Grove Village, Franklin Park, Northlake and downtown Chicago, along with a wide selection of available product offerings, including the Digital Realty Internet Exchange (DRIX) and Service Exchange, Digital Realty anticipates an influx of demand for data center capacity, including from key Chicago industries such as manufacturing, transportation and technology.  

About Digital Realty
Digital Realty supports the data center, colocation and interconnection strategies of more than 2,000 firms across its secure, network-rich portfolio of data centers located throughout North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia and Australia. Digital Realty's clients include domestic and international companies of all sizes, ranging from cloud and information technology services, communications and social networking to financial services, manufacturing, energy, healthcare and consumer products. www.digitalrealty.com

For Additional Information
Andrew P. Power
Chief Financial Officer
Digital Realty
(415) 738-6500

Media & Industry Analyst Relations
Marc Musgrove
Digital Realty
(415) 508-2812
mmusgrove@digitalrealty.com

Investor Relations
John J. Stewart
Digital Realty
(415) 738-6500
investorrelations@digitalrealty.com 

Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements which are based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially, including statements related to the new tax incentives for data centers in Illinois, including the expected benefits of the tax incentives on Illinois' economy and data center industry, and our expectations and plans for our Illinois data centers. These risks and uncertainties include, among others, the following: reduced demand for data centers or decreases in information technology spending; decreased rental rates, increased operating costs or increased vacancy rates; increased competition or available supply of data center space; the suitability of our data centers and data center infrastructure, delays or disruptions in connectivity or availability of power, or failures or breaches of our physical and information security infrastructure or services; our dependence upon significant customers, bankruptcy or insolvency of a major customer or a significant number of smaller customers, or defaults on or non-renewal of leases by customers; breaches of our obligations or restrictions under our contracts with our customers; our inability to successfully develop and lease new properties and development space, and delays or unexpected costs in development of properties; the impact of current global and local economic, credit and market conditions; our inability to retain data center space that we lease or sublease from third parties; difficulties managing an international business and acquiring or operating properties in foreign jurisdictions and unfamiliar metropolitan areas; our failure to realize the intended benefits from, or disruptions to our plans and operations or unknown or contingent liabilities related to, our recent acquisitions; our failure to successfully integrate and operate acquired or developed properties or businesses; difficulties in identifying properties to acquire and completing acquisitions; risks related to joint venture investments, including as a result of our lack of control of such investments; risks associated with using debt to fund our business activities, including re-financing and interest rate risks, our failure to repay debt when due, adverse changes in our credit ratings or our breach of covenants or other terms contained in our loan facilities and agreements; our failure to obtain necessary debt and equity financing, and our dependence on external sources of capital; financial market fluctuations and changes in foreign currency exchange rates; adverse economic or real estate developments in our industry or the industry sectors that we sell to, including risks relating to decreasing real estate valuations and impairment charges and goodwill and other intangible asset impairment charges; our inability to manage our growth effectively; losses in excess of our insurance coverage; environmental liabilities and risks related to natural disasters; our inability to comply with rules and regulations applicable to our Company; our failure to maintain our status as a REIT for federal income tax purposes; our operating partnership's failure to qualify as a partnership for federal income tax purposes; restrictions on our ability to engage in certain business activities; and changes in local, state, federal and international laws and regulations, including related to taxation, real estate and zoning laws, and increases in real property tax rates. For a further list and description of such risks and uncertainties, see the reports and other filings by the company with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018 and the company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarters ending March 31, 2019 and June 30, 2019. The company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.  

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SOURCE Digital Realty