Summary
- FRA01 is planned for 6MW at Mainzer Landstraße 695 in western Frankfurt.
- Preparatory construction has begun, with the first phase targeted for January 2028.
- The development forms part of NorthC’s wider expansion around the Frankfurt market.
NorthC Datacenters has started preparatory construction on a 6MW data centre at Mainzer Landstraße 695 in western Frankfurt.
The company said the first phase of FRA01 is scheduled to enter service in January 2028.
The project adds to several NorthC facilities operating or under development in and around Frankfurt as the regional colocation provider expands its German footprint.
NorthC entered Germany in 2022 through its acquisition of IP Exchange and has since added both existing facilities and new developments.
Smaller facilities continue alongside hyperscale campuses
Frankfurt remains one of Europe’s largest data centre markets, supported by financial services, enterprise demand, cloud infrastructure, fibre density, and the DE-CIX interconnection ecosystem.
Large hyperscale developments attract much of the market attention, but multi-megawatt regional facilities continue to serve workloads where proximity, interconnection, colocation flexibility, and enterprise requirements remain important.
NorthC has three facilities under development around Frankfurt alongside its operational Frankfurt 3 site.
A planned Neu-Isenburg facility is expected to provide 4.5MW, while another previously announced Frankfurt project is designed to rise from 1.5MW at launch to 10.5MW at full build-out.
The company’s Frankfurt 3 site, formerly operated by CenturyLink and Lumen before passing through Colt, provides a further operational presence in the market.
Construction start shifts the project into delivery
The start of preparatory works moves FRA01 into physical delivery, but a substantial programme remains before January 2028.
A 6MW facility still requires significant electrical distribution, backup systems, cooling equipment, network infrastructure, fit-out, and commissioning.
Those packages also have to be coordinated with utility works and construction sequencing.
Frankfurt developers face particular pressure around electricity availability and the environmental performance of new facilities, alongside the equipment and contractor constraints seen across the wider European market.
A smaller phased development may require less infrastructure in its opening stage than a hyperscale campus, but that does not eliminate the lead times attached to transformers, switchgear, UPS systems, cooling plant, and commissioning.
NorthC’s January 2028 target therefore leaves a lengthy delivery period between the current preparatory works and customer-ready capacity.
FRA01 adds another project to a Frankfurt pipeline where the demand case remains strong, but the transition from planned megawatts to operating capacity continues to depend on the less visible work of utilities, contractors, equipment suppliers, and commissioning teams.
