As YongeBloor mentioned this is a data centre.
The site was originally owned by Blackberry but was sold to Ascent Corp. The site is really split into two different parts. There is the existing building at 17 Vondrau and then the vacant land (25 acres) behind the site which is intended for future growth.
Since the property was purchased the existing building at 17 Vondrau was converted into a small scale data centre (6 mega-watt) with OVHcloud owning the infrastructure. The rest of the building was leased out for warehousing while Ascent worked through the planning for the rest of the site. Shortly after the opening of the OVHcloud data centre in early 2024, Ascent was already signing agreements with engineering firms for design work with much of that work occurring that summer.
Since then construction commenced. In total the construction loan is 450 million dollars with half of the loan being provided by CPP Investments with the remaining portion coming from Deutsche Bank Private Credit & Infrastructure (lead investor). This portion is a joint venture between Ascent, Related Digital and TowerBrook Capital Partners. This expansion will expand the capacity of the centre from 6 mega-watts up to 60 mega-watts.
The entire facility has already been pre leased. However it was mentioned by the CEO of the Waterloo Region Economic Development Corporation that Cohere will be utilizing some of the space. In an article, linked below, it is mentioned that a leading GPU-focused AI cloud computing provider also has space.
Here's that article:
https://ontarioconstructionnews.com...25-million-expansion-of-cambridge-data-centre
Then for those crane nerds out there, the crawler crane (Tadano CC38.650) they have on site is one of only two that Mammoet has in Ontario, the other one was used at the Gordie Howe Bridge and a bridge demo down in Brantford that crosses the Grand River.
