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Mark IV Capital, a Newport Beach-based private equity firm specializing in real estate, sold 300 acres of open land to software giant Microsoft Corp. for about $71 million.
The property is in Fernley, Nevada, about 35 miles east of Reno, Nevada, and could be used as a data center. Apple Inc. also operates a data center in the Reno area.
The land sale is part of Victory Logistics District, a 4,300-acre master-planned industrial and logistics hub.
The transaction was confirmed by public documents and a Mark IV Capital spokesperson. Public documents obtained from Lyon County, Nevada, where Fernley is located, show the transaction’s value was $70.5 million.
Evan Slavik, Mark IV Capital’s president and CEO, said several major corporations already have a presence in Northern Nevada.
Reno Technology Park, for example, is home to Tesla Inc.’s Gigafactory Nevada and Alphabet Inc. subsidiary Google LLC.
Other major companies based in Northern Nevada include U-Haul Holding Co. and Caesars Entertainment Inc., the hospitality and entertainment company that operates Caesars Palace and Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas and Circus Circus Reno.
Slavik told the Business Journal that buying space for development in Nevada is quite difficult, since the federal government owns most of the land in the Silver State.
Properties like Victory Logistics District and Reno Technology Park are attractive to investors and developers because they offer access to power infrastructure, data and fiber optic connectivity for companies seeking space for data centers, distribution bases and manufacturing, according to Slavik.
Victory Logistics District
A Mark IV Capital statement positioned the master-planned industrial hub as a “destination for data center development.”
“The 4,300-acre Victory Logistics District offers access to reliable power infrastructure, service from multiple fiber optic providers and scalable land options. Its proximity to major transportation corridors also supports a wide range of uses, including data centers, advanced manufacturing and logistics operations,” according to a Mark IV Capital statement.
Mark IV Capital broke ground on the master-planned development in Northern Nevada in mid-March.
“This development is set to eventually encompass tens of millions of square feet of distribution and manufacturing space and establish Fernley, a submarket of Reno, as the premier industrial and data center hub in northern Nevada,” Slavik said in a statement.
Victory Logistics District is now in its second phase of construction and includes $120 million worth of infrastructure upgrades for access and utilities across 1,600 acres of land south of Interstate 80. Industrial, manufacturing and data center projects would be developed on those 1,600 acres, according to Slavik.
Another 1,500 acres of land north of Interstate 80 could be developed for housing, according to Slavik.
Fernley was incorporated in 2001 and has a population of 24,744, according to U.S. Census data as of July 2023.
The addition of Microsoft’s data center and other industrial uses at Victory Logistics District means tens of thousands of new jobs could be added to Fernley – and that would open the door to the development of housing and related infrastructure, such as schools and retail centers.
Specific improvements that are a part of Victory Logistics District’s second phase include 600 acres of grading, four miles of new paved roads, five miles of new water lines, six miles of new storm drains and nine million cubic yards of relocated soil to accommodate new building construction.