Cobalt Data takes over vacated PurchasePro site

Cobalt Data Centers, which last year announced plans to build a 60,000 square-foot data center in east Las Vegas, has instead taken over the long-closed data center of failed Internet startup PurchasePro at 3291 N. Buffalo Drive.

The company plans to open the 34,000-square foot Cobalt Cheyenne Data Center after completion of remodeling in late November, said company CEO Michael Ballard. The center should employ about 20 technicians, with another 20 onsite employed by tenants.

Data centers are essentially high-security warehouses for computer servers owned and operated by other companies. Las Vegas has become a popular site for data centers because of relatively low energy costs and limited earthquake activity.

Ballard declined to comment on the cost of the current project. He said his company still plans to build on the 2.4-acre East Sahara Road site and plans to start construction there next year.

PurchasePro, a business-to-business purchasing facilitor that collapsed in bankruptcy and felony convictions for its CEO in 2002, built the data center at the cost of $5.9 million in 2000.

Ballard said the building has been vacant since 2002.