1.6MW Data Center in Ames, Iowa Listed for $4 Million as Insurer Shifts to Cloud
June 15, 2026
1.6MW Data Center in Ames, Iowa Listed for $4 Million as Insurer Shifts to Cloud
A 1.6MW data center in Ames, Iowa, has been placed on the market for $4 million, marking a significant real estate move by its owner as the company transitions its IT infrastructure to the cloud. The facility, located at 1205 Buckeye Avenue, spans 15,510 square feet (1,440 sqm) on a 63,655 square foot (5,915 sqm) land parcel and includes two dedicated data center rooms along with two diesel generators.
Built in 1990, the property is currently owned by Employers Mutual Casualty (EMC), a commercial property and casualty insurance firm. EMC announced its migration to Guideware Cloud in 2019, a cloud platform built on Amazon Web Services (AWS) tailored for insurance carriers, which has likely rendered the on-premises data center surplus to requirements. The facility was officially listed for sale on Wednesday, June 10, 2026.
Ames, a city in Story County located in central Iowa, hosts a relatively modest data center market. According to Data Center Map, only one other data center operates in the city, owned by IT services firm Global Reach. The majority of the state’s data center infrastructure is concentrated in Des Moines, approximately 30 miles (48km) south of Ames, which serves as the regional hub for colocation and cloud services.
The sale of this facility underscores a broader trend among traditional enterprises reevaluating their physical data center assets amid widespread cloud adoption. For buyers, the property offers a turnkey opportunity in a secondary market with lower operational costs, though its age and single-tenant design may require retrofitting to meet modern efficiency standards. The transaction also highlights the ongoing shift in the insurance sector, where legacy infrastructure is being phased out in favor of scalable, cloud-based platforms like Guideware Cloud.
Source: datacenterdynamics
