SANTA CLARA — A mega-developer of data centers has grabbed a big South Bay research and office building in a purchase that could enable the company to widen its footprint in Silicon Valley.

Vantage Data Centers, acting through an affiliate, bought a building at 2590 Walsh Ave. in Santa Clara, public documents filed on Feb. 19 show.

Facebook during 2020 leased a number of buildings for data center facilities, including two buildings just across the street from the 2590 Walsh building, public documents filed with Santa Clara County officials show.

The addresses for the Santa Clara sites were listed as 2480, 2880, and 2820 Northwestern Parkway; and 2565 and 2625 Walsh Ave. Facebook leased the data center sites from Vantage Data Centers, the same firm that has just completed the property purchase at 2590 Walsh, according to official property records.

Menlo Park-based Facebook in February 2020 confirmed that it leased multiple buildings in Santa Clara when asked about the data center rental transactions.

“Our flagship campus in the heart of Silicon Valley” is how Vantage Data Centers describes the collection of Santa Clara buildings that the company owns.

The one-story Santa Clara building that Vantage Data Centers has just bought totals 113,600 square feet, commercial property databases show.

The building sits on a parcel that totals 6.7 acres. A parcel of this size could make the site suitable for redevelopment as a modern data center if the new owner chooses to bulldoze the existing building on that site.

2590 Walsh Ave., a large research and office building in Santa Clara. Google Maps

Vantage Data Center has made it clear that it views Silicon Valley as a choice region for expansions of its facilities.

“In 2020, Vantage accelerated its ongoing investment and expansion in the world’s two largest data center markets,” the company stated in January 2021. “Vantage proactively began construction on additional facilities on its growing Northern Virginia campus and its second Silicon Valley campus” in 2020.

Despite the economic woes and complications unleashed by the coronavirus, the fallout from the spread of the deadly bug presents both challenges and opportunities for the data center sector.

“Digital services and solutions became increasingly more essential for the everyday lives and work of individuals across the globe,” Vantage Data Centers stated.

The demand for tech services has increased on a wide-ranging set of fronts.

“The importance of online and digital tools for education, entertainment, collaboration, and productivity increased the demand for data center capacity,” Vantage Data Centers stated in a January 2021 blog.