Titan Building continues data center construction

MOSES LAKE — Inside the Cold War-era Titan Building near Moses Lake, an existing data center called “Titan I” is being expanded for roughly four undisclosed clients.

Behind Titan I, there are plans to build a 250,000 square-foot building on six acres called “Titan II,” said Lee Willis, the Titan Building’s facility manager.

The company is currently in the design phase for Titan II.

“We’re growing,” Willis said.

He works for the Red Sea Group, who owns building, and is president of WSS Corporation.

He said they expect work on Titan I to be completed this fall.

“We have a group of customers, but only one can fit,” he said. “They want the whole thing.”

An advantage of the project is that the Red Sea Group already owns the existing facility, he says.

“That’s what’s attracting our customers’ interest,” Willis explained. “They don’t have to wait for a long period of time to move in. Customers don’t want to wait for a long period of time.”

Recently, one of the “strongest raised floors you can build in a data center,” was completed inside Titan I, he claims.

The main data center room is approaching completion and workers finished framing the walls and installing a finished siding during the weekend, Willis commented.

“We’re ready to start taking customers and laying racks,” he said. “Red Sea’s aggressively moving forward on doing good things in this county.”

Titan I currently has about six clients and expects to add four clients when the expansion is completed, he explained.

Customers are interested in space ranging from 10,000 square feet to 40,000 square feet, he said.

Current companies inside Titan I include an Internet company, power company, large commercial real estate development company and an aircraft manufacturer, Willis noted.

He cited nondisclosure agreements as the reason why he couldn’t release the company’s names.

When Titan II is completed, 125,000 square feet of the building will be used as data center space, with the remaining area to be likely be used for offices, electrical equipment, conference rooms, computer labs and restrooms, he noted.

The space will go to several companies, and as a result, generate more jobs, Willis claimed.

Company projections show more than 200 full time jobs resulting from full build-out of both Titan I and Titan II, which doesn’t include construction jobs, he said.

The history of the Titan Building goes back to the Cold War, when there was concern in the U.S. about being involved in a nuclear war.

The Titan Building was one of 21 similar buildings built in the U.S.

“(It was) originally developed as an ultra secure data processing and missile control center for the Department of Defense,” according to the Titan I Web site.

The building’s inside is a piece of history.

Two small rooms were previously used to either receive or decode messages. A drawer remains where messages used to be passed through to the decoding room.

On the same floor, a map is painted on the wall of the “War Room,” showing the U.S. broken into air defense sectors, he explained. Russia and Cuba are painted in red, and the map shows the U.S.

“(America) was in the perfect crossfire,” Willis said.

At the time, the Titan Building was connected to radar stations in Canada, he explained.

With the data center work, the floor of the war room will be closed in. But the map will be saved and used for a future display inside the Titan Building, he said.