Ares Management has increased its total investment in Sabey Data Center Properties (SDCP) to more than $500 million, extending a minority equity position it first took in July 2026.

Sabey Corporation and National Real Estate Advisors announced this week that Ares Secondaries funds expanded their commitment to SDCP. The follow-on comes roughly a year and a half after the original deal, which established Ares as a minority equity investor in the data center platform.

What does the additional capital fund?

Sabey's operating footprint currently totals 275MW across roughly four million sq ft (371,612 sqm) in the United States. The company's expansion pipeline is expected to reach approximately 737MW by 2033 — nearly a threefold increase over the capacity in operation today.

The platform runs data centers at sites in operation or development in:

• Quincy, Seattle, and East Wenatchee, Washington
• New York City
• Austin, Texas
• Umatilla, Oregon
• Indianapolis, Indiana
• Ashburn, Virginia

That geographic spread covers several of the country's established and emerging data center markets, including Northern Virginia's Ashburn cluster and the Pacific Northwest corridor that has drawn hyperscale investment for over a decade.

What did the parties say?

Kevin Verdi, EVP and chief investment officer at National Real Estate Advisors, framed the deal as a bet on SDCP's durability. "This follow-on investment reflects continued conviction in SDCP's long-term value proposition and growth trajectory," Verdi said. "We remain focused on disciplined growth and delivering the digital infrastructure needed to support the next generation of cloud and AI demand."

Tim Mirick, president of Sabey Data Center Properties, pointed to execution capacity as the rationale for the deeper tie with Ares. "We are pleased to deepen our relationship with Ares as we continue executing on our long-term growth strategy," Mirick said. "This additional commitment reflects confidence in the strength of our platform and our ability to develop and operate the mission-critical infrastructure our customers rely on."

Jamie Sunday, co-head of real estate secondaries at Ares, indicated the firm sees room for further expansion. "We are pleased to expand our investment in SDCP and build on our relationship with the Sabey and National teams as we continue to see significant runway for growth," Sunday said.

How does this fit Ares' data center strategy?

Founded in 1997, Ares Management Corporation is a global alternative investment manager with $671 billion of assets under management. The firm is no newcomer to digital infrastructure. It owns data center developer Ada Infrastructure and has previously provided funding to Vantage Data Centers and EdgeConneX.

The expanded Sabey position adds to a portfolio that already spans multiple operators and development platforms across major markets. For Ares Secondaries specifically, the deal extends a real estate secondaries strategy that has now placed more than half a billion dollars into a single US data center platform.

Why does the timing matter?

Ares' increased commitment lands amid sustained demand for capacity driven by cloud workloads and AI training clusters. Verdi's reference to "the next generation of cloud and AI demand" aligns with the stated rationale from all three parties: SDCP's 737MW pipeline positions the platform to capture growth through 2033.

The structure of the deal — a minority equity follow-on rather than a control transaction — leaves Sabey Corporation and National Real Estate Advisors in their existing leadership roles while adding growth capital. No valuation figures, specific project allocations, or named customers were disclosed alongside the announcement.

For Sabey, the capital arrives as the company scales from 275MW of operating capacity toward a pipeline that would place it among the larger US data center developers if fully built out. The 2033 target gives the platform a nine-year runway from the date of the original July 2026 investment.