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Digital Infrastructure

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Digital Infrastructure

Businesses, organizations and individuals worldwide increasingly rely on digital infrastructure, including data centers and fiber optic networks. The ever-growing demand for increased capacity, enhanced services and new products drives the development, financing, design, construction and operation of digital infrastructure projects around the world, as well as the evolving strategic priorities of companies operating in this space.

Highly complex and unique requirements must be met to ensure the proper delivery of these projects. A wide range of legal services is needed to thrive, and Thompson Hine has the experience in construction, real estate, project finance, technology, data privacy, private equity, energy and supply chain law to help ensure that fiber networks and data centers are built and operate efficiently while minimizing risks and liabilities. Thompson Hine lawyers, as well as consultants from our wholly owned subsidiary, Project Management Consultants LLC (PMC), provide the multidisciplinary knowledge and skills needed to successfully execute these challenging projects from end-to-end.

We offer a comprehensive approach to the development, finance, design, construction and operation of digital infrastructure, primarily throughout the United States, ensuring that they are developed and financed effectively and on time. Lawyers from our Construction, Site Selection, Real Estate, Corporate Transactions & Securities, Commercial & Public Finance and other practices, as well as PMC consultants providing Owner’s Representation, Partnering & Facilitation and Finance Consulting services, have assembled a multidisciplinary team to provide counsel on the nuances associated with the design, manufacture, construction, installation, ownership and leasing of fiber optic networks and data centers, and the acquisition and sale of related businesses.

Thompson Hine and PMC provide services for a portfolio of real estate development and construction projects totaling in the tens of billions of dollars. Additionally, Alan Ritchie and Jamie Frankel, Digital Infrastructure Co-Chairs, have assembled, guided, and directed multidisciplinary legal and consulting teams on challenging communications and other projects for more than 30 years.

Our team’s experience includes the following matters.

  • Represented equity partner in the development, financing and negotiation for the design and construction of an $860 million, 160,000 square foot data center and substation outside Dallas, Texas for a major U.S. internet and data services provider.
  • Advised, as part of the Corporate M&A industry-specific legal team, on the first private equity acquisition in the United States of a mission critical/data center design firm.
  • Currently representing an ENR Top 20 international design firm, which includes internationally and domestically recognized mission critical division.
  • Currently advising on the development, financing, design, site selection and construction of multiple data center sites throughout the United States.
  • Advised on data center leases, including on issues specifically relevant to data centers such as power and HVAC requirements, etc.
  • Represented client in the restructuring of a portfolio of six data centers located in Illinois, Texas and Arizona with a combined value of over $1.5 billion.
  • Represented equity partner in the acquisition, development and financing of a $146 million data center in Illinois.
  • Provided a risk management analysis for 147-wind turbine project off of coastal Virginia.
  • Represented equity partner in the acquisition, development and financing of a $128 million, 5MW data center and substation in Texas.
  • Represented equity partner in the acquisition, development and financing of a $42 million data center in Arizona.
  • Drafted and negotiated a wide range of technology agreements, including software licensing agreements (both on-premises and software-as-a-service (SaaS)), as well as managed technology services and data center hosting agreements.
  • Reviewed co-location and data center services agreements for clients in multiple industries, including manufacturing, technology, health care, energy and retail.
  • Represented clients in various industries in the outsourcing of their data centers (both production and business continuity/disaster recovery servers) to co-location providers, including representation of a Fortune 500 manufacturing company.
  • Represented an international food storage and handling company in the development and construction of a state-of-the-art temperature-controlled import/export warehouse and distribution center at a major U.S. port.
  • Represented the seller of a leading provider of legacy systems modernization support to a large, Massachusetts-based IT and data center company.
  • Represented clients in the health care industry, including hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and medical device companies, in connection with a wide range of information technology sourcing.
  • Negotiated and drafted fiber-optic EPC master services agreements, work orders and lease reviews for a national digital communication infrastructure company.
  • Drafted fiber lease agreements for national telecommunication carriers.
  • Drafted and negotiated master lease agreements with jurisdictions, major carriers and tower and utility companies, as well as retail and standard leases, amendments and access and utility easements.
  • Provided management and legal review of leases/licenses for distributed antenna systems and small cell builds as well as for site relocations and renewals.
  • Reviewed due diligence documentation and lease and purchase agreements associated with 4G and 5G company deployments for national telecommunications carriers.
  • Negotiated and drafted a convertible note purchase agreement and convertible secured promissory note to make a $40 million investment in a Midwestern fiber-optic infrastructure company.
  • Represented a critical communications infrastructure company in its acquisition of a broadband provider.
  • Advised clients on equipment purchases for data center construction, including drafting, revising and negotiating contracts.
  • Advised clients on project delivery methods and project risk related to data center design and construction.
  • Drafted and negotiated design and construction agreements for data centers on behalf of project owners.
  • Represented a design-build contractor in the engineering, design, procurement, construction, installation and testing of fiber cabling systems, including advising on project risks, project permitting and right-of-way access agreements and methods to structure and design project agreements to minimize project risk and cost escalation.

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