The Most Expensive Commercial Real Estate In The World Is A Place For Computers, Not People

The most expensive commercial real estate in the world may just be an anonymous data center in Chicago which holds the computers powering the big securities exchanges like the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE).  Who’s paying for this real estate?  Not the exchanges themselves.  But the new power brokers on Wall Street – high frequency traders.

via: Hacker News

I can definitely see the reason why such real estate is so expensive. This has me wondering if the exchange rents this space or if it is a 3rd party. If the exchange owns it, I wonder what the legal ramifications (if any) are. I can imagine a case of favoritism and unfair advantage being declared between the exchange and the firms who are able to rent the space.

I'm also wondering how the price for this space to typical top-of-the-line data center space.