$105M QTS Aurora Data Center Fit-Out Tracks 6 LV Systems

A $105 million, 60 MW tenant fit-out revision at QTS DEN1 DC2 in Aurora tracks six low-voltage systems, creating a modeled $7.2 million low-voltage opportunity inside one phase of a much larger data-center campus.

Project Overview

The selected City of Aurora record covers a tenant fit-out inside the existing core-and-shell data hall at 1140 North Gun Club Road. Filed on August 10, 2026, permit revision 26-2645660-000-00 lists structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing and architectural work for a 60 MW tenant program, plus an office area supporting the tenant's operational requirements. The public record does not name the tenant, its technology standard or any specialty low-voltage contractor.

The permit stack matters because this is not one clean number that can be added together. Aurora records show a separate $154.4 million DC2 core-and-shell permit issued in August 2025, a $251.6 million hot-aisle-containment fit-out filed in March 2026, and the selected $105 million revision. A later limited-building permit repeats the $105 million value on September 22, followed by plan-revision filings on September 29 and 30. Those are related records for the same building and may overlap; adding them would overstate the project.

QTS identifies Denver 1 as a 65-acre Aurora campus planned for more than 160 MW of critical power. The operator lists the campus at 1160 North Gun Club Road, while the municipal DC2 permit is tied to the adjacent 1140 address. The selected spotlight is specifically about the $105 million DC2 tenant-fit-out revision, not the full campus investment.

Project	QTS DEN1 DC2 60 MW Tenant Fit-Out Revision
Location	1140 N Gun Club Road, Aurora, Colorado
Selected Permit Value	$105 million
Capacity Named in Permit	60 MW
Permit	26-2645660-000-00
Current Signal Status	Active
LV Score	10/10
Source	City of Aurora Building Permits

Key Players and Package Boundaries

QTS Data Centers is the source-backed campus owner and operator. Its official campus page describes growth capacity, customer space and a standardized data-center platform, but it does not identify the DC2 tenant or publish the tenant's network, security or commissioning standards. That missing tenant identity is commercially important: approved manufacturers, labeling, testing and turnover documentation can all change after the shell-and-core package is already underway.

TWI Erectors identifies Holder Construction as general contractor for the QTS DEN1 data-center build and describes a two-story structure with 347,000 square feet of decking. That is useful campus-level evidence, but the reviewed city row does not confirm Holder as contractor for this specific $105 million tenant-fit-out revision. Contractors should keep the distinction in their qualification language instead of converting a campus relationship into an unverified package award.

Role	Company	What the Public Record Supports
Owner / Operator	QTS Data Centers	DEN1 campus operator; 65 acres and 160 MW-plus planned critical capacity
Campus General Contractor	Holder Construction	Named for the DEN1 campus build by the project steel erector; exact fit-out scope unconfirmed
Permitting Authority	City of Aurora	Publishes permit values, descriptions, filing dates and current issue status
Tenant	Not publicly named	Permit confirms a tenant program but does not disclose the customer or technology standard

What the Permit Actually Reveals

The related Aurora records are unusually specific for a data-center permit trail. One revision describes six white-box areas, three on the first floor and three on the second. Another names hot-aisle containment. The selected revision adds a tenant office area and coordinates structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing and architectural disciplines inside the existing data hall. That sequence shows the work moving from building shell toward tenant-ready technical space.

The life-safety records go further. A DC2 fire-alarm filing lists 168 initiating devices, 28 manual pull stations, 391 notification appliances and 17 power supplies. A later revision adds two-way communication and removes beam detectors. The municipal record also includes a new radio-frequency system. These details confirm real fire-alarm and emergency-communications coordination; they do not prove that every system inferred by Signal has been awarded.

For an integrator, the operational challenge is the interface map. Hot-aisle containment affects device locations and access paths. Tenant white boxes require repeatable but segregated pathways. Security must coordinate with QTS base-building standards and the unnamed customer's rules. Fire alarm, two-way communications and in-building radio coverage must survive design revisions without creating duplicated infrastructure or gaps between owner, tenant and code-required scopes.

Low Voltage Systems Breakdown

System	Category	Likely Scope and Bid Question	Complexity
Structured Cabling	Data / Voice	Tenant white-box backbone, equipment-room distribution, pathway separation and certification. Confirm whether horizontal cabling, racks and patching are tenant-furnished or construction-scope.	High
Fiber Optic	Data / Voice	Diverse backbone routes between meet rooms, data halls and campus infrastructure. Require loss budgets, splice plans and tenant-specific test-document formats before pricing.	High
Access Control	Security	Readers, controllers, door interfaces and audit segmentation across six white boxes and office areas. Confirm the owner-versus-tenant database boundary and credential handoff.	High
CCTV / Video Surveillance	Security	Coverage for entrances, circulation, loading, technical rooms and restricted tenant zones. Storage duration, analytics and VMS ownership remain undisclosed.	High
Fire Alarm	Life Safety	The public filing confirms a new system and later revisions involving two-way communication and beam-detector removal. Device counts, cause-and-effect logic and phased acceptance make this a major coordination package.	High
DAS / In-Building Radio	Wireless / Life Safety	A municipal record identifies a new radio-frequency system. Contractors should establish whether this is public-safety ERRCS, commercial cellular DAS or a split scope before carrying equipment.	High

Structured cabling, fiber, access control and CCTV are opportunity-model systems in Signal, not disclosed trade awards. Fire alarm, two-way communications and a radio-frequency package are directly visible in the permit trail. That difference should stay visible in any estimate and outreach message.

Estimated Low Voltage Value

The selected $105 million figure is a reported construction value for a tenant-fit-out revision, so LVN applies the reported-construction-value data-center method: a 6% base multiplied by 1.15 for six coordinated systems. That produces a midpoint of approximately $7.2 million. A reasonable planning band is $6.3 million to $10.5 million before final tenant standards, owner-furnished equipment and package boundaries are known.

Selected Permit Value	$105 million
Base LV Percentage	6% for reported data-center construction value
Six-System Multiplier	1.15x
Modeled LV Midpoint	$7.2 million
Planning Range	$6.3 million to $10.5 million

A separate national capacity check at roughly $500,000 per compute megawatt would imply about $30 million for a complete 60 MW low-voltage architecture. That number is not assigned to this permit. The gap is evidence that the $105 million row represents only part of the building and tenant technology stack. Contractors should price the issued scope, then identify excluded tenant network, security, monitoring and commissioning packages rather than forcing the entire 60 MW campus standard into one permit.

Skills and Certifications Required

Discipline	Useful Certifications	Critical Field Skills
Structured Cabling and Fiber	BICSI TECH, INSTC/INSTF, RCDD	High-density pathway planning, fiber splicing, polarity control, loss testing and auditable labeling
Access Control	Manufacturer platform certification, ASIS PSP for design leadership	Door hardware interfaces, controller networks, credential segmentation and fail-safe sequences
CCTV	VMS and camera-manufacturer certification, Network+	PoE design, camera placement, storage calculation, isolated networks and analytics commissioning
Fire Alarm	NICET Fire Alarm Level II or higher, applicable Colorado licensing	NFPA 72, SLC/NAC design, sequence testing, two-way communication and AHJ coordination
DAS / ERRCS	RCDD, RF-system training, manufacturer certification	Coverage modeling, donor and antenna placement, coax/fiber testing and fire-code acceptance
Commissioning	RCDD or senior manufacturer credentials	Integrated test scripts, redline control, deficiency tracking and tenant-format turnover packages

Entry-level technicians can support pathway installation, cable placement, device rough-in and labeling under supervision. Mid-level technicians will own termination, fiber testing, controller installation and deficiency correction. Senior leads need the authority to coordinate fire alarm, security, network and radio testing across six repeated tenant zones without allowing a base-building assumption to become an unpriced tenant requirement.

Before bidding, contractors should verify Colorado and Aurora licensing requirements for their exact discipline. Fire alarm and public-safety radio work may trigger different contractor, technician, inspection and acceptance requirements than general communications cabling.

Procurement Signal for Contractors

The permit trail shows activity, not a public bid invitation. The $105 million revision had no issue date in the reviewed Aurora dataset, and a September 22 limited-building record repeats the same value without an issue date. Plan revisions continued through September 30. That is a strong design-and-review signal, but it is not proof that low-voltage packages are open to outside bids.

The best qualification questions are narrow. Who owns the tenant structured-cabling standard? Are fiber trunks and active network equipment owner-furnished? Does the security platform remain in the QTS enterprise, move into a tenant instance or integrate both? Is the radio-frequency permit public-safety ERRCS or commercial DAS? Which party owns integrated systems testing, and what evidence package is required at turnover? Those answers decide whether the opportunity is a conventional subcontract, a direct tenant package or a split-scope change-order trap.

Market Signal

DEN1 demonstrates how hyperscale work appears in municipal data: not as one campus award, but as a chain of core-and-shell permits, foundations, fire protection, white-box fit-outs, tenant revisions and communications packages. QTS markets more than 160 MW of planned critical capacity across the campus, while the selected DC2 record names a 60 MW tenant fit-out. Each phase can create a separate procurement window and a different owner-furnished boundary.

For Mountain West contractors, the durable opportunity is repeatability. Six white boxes across two floors reward crews that can reproduce pathways, labels, tests and turnover records without drift. Firms that document one zone correctly can scale the process; firms that treat each room as a custom installation will lose margin during commissioning.

The unnamed tenant is the remaining commercial hinge. A confidential customer standard can alter manufacturer lists, fiber counts, rack layouts, access-control segmentation and test reporting after the base design is established. Bid the public scope firm, carry tenant-specific work as a defined allowance, and request the technology standard before final buyout. The contractor that manages that boundary becomes more valuable than the contractor with the lowest first-pass cable price.

Find Projects Like This on Signal

LVN Signal tracks thousands of construction projects with low voltage opportunities across the country. Filter by city, system type, and project value to find your next bid.

Browse Signal Projects