We live in a highly connected world — with more than two-thirds of the global population actively using the internet, data drives how we live, work, and play in today’s increasingly digitized global ecosystem. As a result, the demand for data storage and processing has soared, and has been further accelerated by the race to create generative artificial intelligence (AI) solutions to boost productivity in almost every industry. This surge has given rise to what seems to be an insatiable demand for data centers, resulting in this “niche” property type garnering the attention of traditional real estate investors. However, not all data center opportunities are created equal. Amid constrained resources and heightened regulatory scrutiny, innovative and sustainable data c