Ground lease

A ground lease is a long-term agreement, typically 30 to 99 years, under which a data center developer leases raw land from its owner rather than buying it outright, then constructs and owns the building and equipment on top for the lease term. The structure lets operators deploy capital into power, cooling and IT infrastructure instead of land acquisition, while landowners — often utilities, ports, industrial estates or government land agencies — retain long-term ownership and collect steady rent, sometimes tied to a share of facility revenue. Ground leases are common on sites near substations, fiber routes, or in jurisdictions restricting foreign land ownership, and typically include reversion clauses returning improvements to the landowner at expiry, which colocation buyers should review when assessing a facility's long-term site control risk.