Reno’s Digital Revolution

The big names and billion dollar data centers at Tahoe Reno Industrial Center tend to dominate headlines. But while those sprawling server farms draw the spotlight, a quieter and arguably more critical development is taking place right in downtown Reno. Centra Digital Interconnect (CDI) is laying the groundwork for the region’s digital future with two interconnected projects: RNO1 at 200 S. Virginia Street and RNO2 at 265 Keystone Avenue.

RNO1, located in the nine story Chase Bank building, is what’s known as a “meet me room”, a neutral space where internet service providers and communications carriers connect and exchange data. It’s a digital handshake point for the city. Meanwhile, the much larger RNO2 facility, under construction on Keystone Avenue, will soon link directly to RNO1, creating a powerful new hub of connectivity in the heart of Reno.

Why Reno, and Why Now?

Centra’s leadership chose Reno for one compelling reason: geography. The city sits at the crossroads of major long haul fiber networks that connect the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley with Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, and points beyond.

“There is so much fiber being built, not only to support all the big companies out at TRI Center, but new cables are coming in from Oregon, from San Francisco, down to Carson City and Las Vegas,” said Bryson Hopkins, Centra’s vice president of technology and ecosystem development. “Reno is the nexus of a lot of that connectivity.”

Hopkins added that most interconnection traffic naturally flows downtown, where it can be distributed in every direction. “Our strategy is to identify markets that need interconnectivity but lack purpose built facilities,” he said. “That’s exactly what we’re building here.”

Centra already operates similar sites in Charlotte, Columbus, and Portland, with Minneapolis next on the list. Reno, however, represents a strategic anchor for the western U.S.

Expanding the Digital Ecosystem

While the 4,000 square foot suite at 200 S. Virginia is ideal for small scale connectivity, it wasn’t designed for the growing demands of high density computing. Modern data racks are heavier, hotter, and hungrier for power and cooling, and retrofitting an older office building simply didn’t make financial sense.

“The expense of making the Chase building work for the future would have been higher than starting fresh,” Hopkins said. “The Keystone site gives us room to grow and build for what’s coming, not just what’s needed today.”

The new 92,000 square foot facility, RNO2, will feature nine megawatts of computing power and a nearly 30,000 square foot data hall. It’s being purpose built to host the kind of high density networking gear that fuels cloud computing and artificial intelligence applications.

Clark Construction, the general contractor, began by clearing three aging warehouses from the site, remnants of Reno’s industrial past. The company expects to pour the building’s foundation before winter sets in, transforming a long dormant parcel into a cornerstone of Reno’s digital infrastructure.

Design for a Data Driven Future

RNO2 isn’t just large, it’s efficient. The facility will use a closed loop, glycol based cooling system that minimizes water use, along with Reno’s naturally dry climate to reduce energy consumption.

Centra estimates it will invest about $58 million in its first two years of development and create jobs averaging $35 per hour. The project’s total cost, including building construction, power systems, raised floors, cooling infrastructure, and advanced monitoring, is expected to exceed $34 million.

With construction underway, RNO2 is slated to come online in late summer 2026, bringing Reno its first purpose built interconnection data center.

Reno a Regional Digital Hub

Centra’s RNO2 facility is more than a local project, it’s a statement of intent. The company envisions Reno as a vital edge market capable of supporting next generation technologies, from AI driven applications to large scale cloud deployments.

“Our vision for RNO2 is to create a highly connected interconnection hub that strengthens Reno’s role in the digital infrastructure ecosystem,” said Shelly Greco, Centra’s vice president of sales. “By bringing a purpose built facility to this market, we’re enabling businesses to scale and innovate.”

With four redundant fiber entrances, a 2N power architecture for full operational resilience, and carrier neutral access, RNO2 will be a key piece of Northern Nevada’s growing tech landscape.

In short, while others build data castles in the desert, Centra is building the roads between them and those roads run straight through Reno.

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