Low-latency colocation is priced per kilowatt of committed power per month, with the cabinet bundled in. NYC Tri-State carrier hotels run $200–240 per kW per month and Atlanta’s 56 Marietta $180–185 (StackedAI analysis, carrier-hotel market analysis, Apr 2026), against a national average asking rate of $195.94 for 250–500 kW requirements (CBRE, NA Data Center Trends H2 2025, Feb 2026). Cross-connects and exchange ports are quoted per deal.
What are the cost components of a carrier-hotel footprint?
A trading firm’s colocation bill has six parts, and only the first two are what most people mean by “what does a cabinet cost”.
Cabinet or cage space. Bundled into the per-kW rate; cages carry a build-out charge and a premium for the reserved floor.
Power commitment. The main recurring line, in dollars per kW per month against a committed draw per cabinet, billed committed (reserved kW, used or not) or metered (consumption plus a reservation). Density above the standard allocation carries a premium.
Cross-connects. A one-time install plus a monthly charge per cable. A market maker may run one to each venue gateway, data feed, carrier and counterparty, so counts in the dozens per cabinet are common and the line can rival the power bill.
Exchange connectivity and market data ports. Priced and contracted by the exchange or vendor, not the operator, and outside the colocation contract.
Installation and non-recurring charges (NRCs). Cabinet or cage build-out, circuit and cross-connect installs and cabling; one-time, and the most negotiable part of the deal.
Remote hands. Operator technicians who swap a card or reseat a cable on request, billed hourly or as a monthly block.
What drives the price?
Power density. Operators price space by the kW it can cool. Legacy halls were engineered for far lower densities than modern trading hardware demands, and an operator that must reserve cooling and circuit capacity around a dense cabinet charges for it.
Term. Longer terms pull the per-kW rate down and cap renewal exposure. Digital Realty reported cash renewal spreads of +25.4% in the second quarter of 2026 (Digital Realty, Q2 2026 Results, Jul 2026), the cost of coming off contract in a scarce building.
Hub scarcity. The Tri-State market has no capacity above 5 MW and record-high pricing (CBRE, NA Data Center Trends H1 2025 NY Tri-State, Sep 2025); Chicago shows 1.9% vacancy with no contiguous 5 MW+ block (CBRE, NA Data Center Trends H2 2025 Chicago, Feb 2026). Tenants cannot leave for a cheaper building without leaving the ecosystem, so scarcity turns into rate quickly.
Market-wide rent inflation. North American rents are up roughly 70% since 2020, about 9% a year, with vacancy at 1% for the third consecutive year (JLL, NA Data Center Report Midyear 2026, Aug 2026). Large requirements clear at $200 or more per kW per month (CBRE via Data Center Frontier, Two Lenses on One Market, Aug 2025), and small trading footprints do not get large-deal discounts, so they sit at or above these benchmarks.
What are the cited pricing benchmarks?
| Benchmark | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| NYC Tri-State carrier hotels | $200–240/kW/mo; <1% vacancy | StackedAI analysis, carrier-hotel market analysis, Apr 2026 |
| Atlanta, 56 Marietta | $180–185/kW/mo | StackedAI analysis, carrier-hotel market analysis, Apr 2026 |
| Toronto, 151 Front Street West | $160–200 CAD/kW/mo | StackedAI analysis, carrier-hotel market analysis, Apr 2026 |
| Chicago market, Q1 2026 | $200–230/kW/mo | CBRE, Global Data Center Trends 2026, Jun 2026 |
| National average asking rent, 250–500 kW | $195.94/kW/mo, +6.5% YoY | CBRE, NA Data Center Trends H2 2025, Feb 2026 |
| Large requirements | $200+/kW/mo | CBRE via Data Center Frontier, Two Lenses on One Market, Aug 2025 |
| Cumulative rent growth since 2020 | ~70%; ~9%/yr | JLL, NA Data Center Report Midyear 2026, Aug 2026 |
These figures cover space and power only. No 2026 cross-connect, exchange port or installation price list for NY4, NY5, 350 East Cermak, CME Aurora or LD4 is public; StackedAI benchmarks those per engagement. See the NY4 versus 350 East Cermak comparison.
What does an all-in monthly bill look like?
The illustrative configuration is a single 10 kW cabinet in a Secaucus carrier hotel with exchange connectivity. Only the power-and-space line can be derived from cited data; the rest is shown as structure.
| Line item | Basis | Illustrative figure | Negotiability |
|---|---|---|---|
| Space and power | 10 kW committed × per-kW rate | 10 kW × $200–240/kW/mo = roughly $2,000–2,400/mo, derived from the Tri-State band (StackedAI analysis, carrier-hotel market analysis, Apr 2026) | Rate moves with term |
| Cross-connects | Monthly charge × number of cables | Quoted per deal; scales with venues, feeds and counterparties | High: bundles and a fixed rate card |
| Exchange connectivity and market data ports | Set by exchange and vendor programs | Outside the colocation contract | Low with the operator; negotiated with each exchange or vendor |
| Installation and NRCs | One-time; often amortized over term | Quoted per deal | Highest: waivers and amortization are common |
| Remote hands | Hourly or monthly block | Quoted per deal | Medium: block pricing and response-time commitments |
| Escalator | Annual percentage on recurring charges | Quoted per deal | Medium: caps and fixed steps for the term |
Power and space is often the minority of the bill for an execution cabinet with a full set of cross-connects and exchange ports, so comparing quotes on the headline rate alone is a mistake; the right comparison is total monthly cost over the term, including amortized NRCs, at the firm’s actual cross-connect count.
Which lines are worth negotiating?
With vacancy under 1% (StackedAI analysis, carrier-hotel market analysis, Apr 2026), the operator concedes least on the per-kW rate and most on items that do not reduce recurring revenue: NRC waivers first, then cross-connect bundles, remote hands blocks, escalator caps, density step-ups, a right of first refusal on adjacent cabinets, and finally the headline rate, which moves with term. The full checklist is in the pillar on colocation for trading firms in carrier hotels.
A second lever is what the firm keeps out of the hub. Every kW moved to a Tier-2 research site is bought at 15–30% below primary-market pricing (StackedAI analysis, Tier-2 brownfield conversion thesis, Aug 2026); the GPU research clusters page covers the split.
Key terms
- $/kW/month: the standard colocation rate, applied to committed power with cabinet space bundled in.
- Committed vs metered power: paying for reserved capacity regardless of use, versus paying for measured consumption plus a reservation.
- Cross-connect: a dedicated cable between two tenants in one building, billed as a one-time install plus a monthly charge.
- NRC (non-recurring charge): any one-time installation or build-out fee.
How StackedAI applies this
StackedAI builds the total-cost comparison for each placement rather than comparing headline rates, using its own carrier-hotel pricing data (StackedAI analysis, carrier-hotel market analysis, Apr 2026) and concurrent quotes from competing operators. The firm structures requests for proposal so that cross-connect counts, densities and terms are held constant across bidders, then negotiates NRC waivers, cross-connect bundles and expansion rights. Placement engagements are described on the advisory services page.
Frequently asked questions
How is carrier-hotel colocation priced?
Per kilowatt of committed power per month, with cabinet space bundled into the rate. NYC Tri-State carrier hotels run $200–240 per kW per month and Atlanta’s 56 Marietta $180–185 (StackedAI analysis, Apr 2026); the national average asking rate for 250–500 kW requirements was $195.94 (CBRE, Feb 2026). Cross-connects, exchange ports, installation and remote hands are billed on top.
What does a cross-connect cost?
A one-time installation charge plus a monthly recurring charge per cable, set by the operator’s rate card and negotiable in bundles. No 2026 price list for the trading hubs is public, and a market maker with dozens of cross-connects per cabinet can see the line approach its power bill. StackedAI benchmarks cross-connect rates per engagement.
Why is carrier-hotel power more expensive than wholesale?
Because the tenant pays for the ecosystem, not the floor. The Tri-State market has no capacity above 5 MW and record-high pricing (CBRE, Sep 2025), and tenants cannot move to a cheaper building without leaving the exchanges they colocate to reach. North American rents are up roughly 70% since 2020 (JLL, Aug 2026).
Which colocation charges are negotiable?
Installation and other non-recurring charges are the most negotiable because they do not affect the operator’s recurring revenue. Cross-connect bundles, remote hands blocks, escalator caps and expansion rights come next. The headline per-kW rate moves least in a market with under 1% vacancy, and term length is the main lever that moves it.
What is the all-in monthly cost of a 10 kW cabinet in Secaucus?
Only the power-and-space line can be benchmarked from cited data: 10 kW at the Tri-State band of $200–240 per kW per month implies roughly $2,000–2,400 per month before anything else. Cross-connects, exchange and market data ports, installation and remote hands add to that and are quoted per deal, so no reliable published all-in figure exists.
Sources
- StackedAI analysis, carrier-hotel market analysis, Apr 2026 (internal; Tri-State, Atlanta and Toronto carrier-hotel pricing and vacancy)
- StackedAI analysis, Tier-2 brownfield conversion thesis, Aug 2026 (internal; Tier-2 pricing discount)
- CBRE, North America Data Center Trends H2 2025, Feb 2026, https://www.cbre.com/insights/books/north-america-data-center-trends-h2-2025
- CBRE, North America Data Center Trends H2 2025, Chicago market profile, Feb 2026, https://www.cbre.com/insights/books/north-america-data-center-trends-h2-2025/chicago-data-center-market
- CBRE, North America Data Center Trends H1 2025, New York Tri-State market profile, Sep 2025, https://www.cbre.com/insights/local-response/north-america-data-center-trends-h1-2025-market-profiles-new-york-tri-state
- CBRE via Data Center Frontier, Two Lenses on One Market: JLL and CBRE Show Data Centers in a Pinch, Aug 2025, https://www.datacenterfrontier.com/colocation/article/55312558/two-lenses-on-one-market-jll-and-cbre-show-data-centers-in-a-pinch
- CBRE, Global Data Center Trends 2026, Jun 2026, https://www.cbre.com/insights/reports/global-data-center-trends-2026
- JLL, North America Data Center Report Midyear 2026, Aug 2026, https://www.jll.com/en-us/insights/market-dynamics/north-america-data-centers
- Digital Realty, Second Quarter 2026 Results, Jul 2026, https://investor.digitalrealty.com/news-releases/news-release-details/digital-realty-reports-second-quarter-2026-results