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CoreWeave anchors 15 years of AI capacity at a converted Niagara Falls cryptomine
Blockfusion turned a decommissioned power plant into a cryptomining campus, and its subsidiary has now signed CoreWeave to a definitive 15-year lease. The megawatt and revenue figures still date from June.
The Product Desk · Product desk
What happened
- Blockfusion USA said its wholly owned subsidiary North East Data has entered a definitive anchor lease with CoreWeave at the Blockfusion campus in Niagara Falls, New York.
- The lease runs for 15 years and carries two five-year renewal options on top of the initial term.
- It follows a non-binding letter of intent announced in June, which Blockfusion said would total up to 300MW including 85MW of guaranteed take-or-pay capacity.
- Blockfusion has put the guaranteed 85MW at approximately $2.8 billion in aggregate lease revenue over the initial term, or around $5.4 billion with both renewals exercised.
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Why it matters
- constraint The guaranteed block is about 28 percent of the capacity described in June, so most of Blockfusion's headline number depends on a tenant deciding later to take megawatts beyond its commitment.
- cost On the June figures, roughly $187 million a year is owed on the guaranteed block even if the capacity sits empty, and the renewal terms price near $260 million a year.
- precedent Three of CoreWeave's named landlords came to it as cryptominers, so a 15-year anchor lease at a converted plant is now a route to sited power that other AI hosts can copy.
- exposure Blockfusion's 15-year income rests on one anchor tenant whose own book includes OpenAI, Microsoft and Meta, which puts the campus downstream of those contracts.
The 85MW guaranteed block is the part a tenant pays for whether or not a GPU lands in the rack. Blockfusion's $2.8 billion estimate over the initial term works out at about $187 million a year, or roughly $2.2 million per megawatt per year [5][1][2].
The renewal decade is dearer. The $5.4 billion figure with both options exercised leaves about $2.6 billion across the two extra five-year terms, which is $260 million a year, or about $3.1 million per megawatt [3][5]. Escalation written into the lease would produce that, and so would a reset at market on renewal. Blockfusion published aggregates [12].
On the June description of the deal, the remaining 215MW is CoreWeave's to call if it wants it [6][4]. A tenant that never calls it owes only the floor.
Alex Martini-Lo Manto, Blockfusion's CEO, said: "We are transforming a former industrial site into infrastructure for the next generation of computing and what we believe can become a long-term technology and economic anchor for the region" [6]. The site was a decommissioned power plant before it was a cryptomine, and Blockfusion is adapting it for high-density, liquid-cooled hardware [7]. Robert Restaino, mayor of the City of Niagara Falls, said "Blockfusion's commitment to Niagara Falls creates opportunities for residents, businesses, and future generations" [11].
CoreWeave leases most of its capacity from third parties and develops some sites itself [8]. Its named North American landlords include Core Scientific, Applied Digital and Galaxy, all three of which it first leased capacity from as cryptominers before hosting AI capacity with them [8][9], alongside Digital Realty, Flexential, TierPoint, Switch and DataBank [8]. This record shows converted power sites working as a standing source of anchor-scale leases. CoreWeave does not break out how much of its capacity sits on converted sites and how much is greenfield.
A deal shaped like this one turns on the megawatts you owe on day one and the rent per megawatt in each period. Here the rent rises from about $2.2 million a year to about $3.1 million on renewal [2][5]. Whether the floor gets paid for 15 years depends on the tenant, and on CoreWeave's own customer contracts [10].
What to watch
- Whether the Blue Acquisition Corp. merger with Blockfusion closes and puts the lease terms into public filings.
- Whether the definitive lease keeps June's 300MW ceiling and 85MW take-or-pay floor, and whether either figure is restated.
- Whether CoreWeave calls any of the 215MW beyond the guaranteed block, and on what schedule.