CyrusOne Plans Campus With 2 Data Centers, 3 Towers Near Chicago
Data center provider CyrusOne plans to develop a pair of new data centers in Aurora, Illinois, a project that will also include the construction of three 350-foot telecommunication towers.
The company submitted plans to Aurora lawmakers last month for two new data centers totaling more than half a million square feet, with the campus slated for a 32-acre site directly across Interstate 88 from CyrusOne’s existing complex in the city, the Chicago Tribune reports.
The new Bilter Road campus will also include a pair of telecommunication towers, along with a third tower at CyrusOne’s older Aurora facility nearby.
CyrusOne’s interest in expanding its footprint outside Chicago was first reported by Bisnow in January, but documents submitted to Aurora lawmakers show a project that has expanded substantially in scope and scale.
The first phase of the proposed development entails the construction of a 411K SF, two-story data center and facilities for backup generators. A second data center totaling 153K SF would be built during a later phase.
The trio of new towers would be built prior to the second data center building, according to CyrusOne’s filings. The company's representatives said the towers are integral to the design and performance of the data centers, providing faster data relay times demanded by the facility’s tenants.
CyrusOne, acquired in 2022 by KKR and Global Infrastructure Partners, is one of the data center industry’s most prominent developers, with 32 facilities in the US. The company first established a presence in Aurora in 2016 when it purchased a 428K SF facility in the city and then added a 440K SF data center on the site the next year. A third building was added to the site a year ago.
The 48-acre campus, which is approximately 1,000 feet from the firm’s planned development on Biltner Road, handles data for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and several overseas exchanges.
Aurora officials have been soliciting development plans since the 1970s on the 32-acre property where CyrusOne hopes to build. The city marketed the parcel as a potential hotel site and had even explicitly barred data centers as a potential use. But after extensive efforts to attract a hotel failed, the city is now open to a data center.
While Aurora isn't a major data center hub, CyrusOne’s plans would be the second new project underway in the area. Edged Energy and Seefried Properties are in the process of jointly developing a three-building, 96-megawatt campus across Biltner Road from the CyrusOne site. That facility is expected to be operational in the third quarter, according to Edged Energy’s website.
The Chicago area is one of the nation's largest data center markets, and it has a wave of new developments on the near-term horizon. Energy provider Exelon is projecting a ninefold increase in power demand from Chicagoland data centers, with 25 new projects planned in the area due to consume almost as much power as New York City, Bloomberg reported.
