Proposed warehouse redo could add to Elk Grove's data center lineup
Add one more data center to the growing list of the computer storage sites in Elk Grove Village, according to plans unveiled this week.
Prologis and Skybox Data Center have entered a joint redevelopment venture to convert a vacant 189,240-square-foot single-story warehouse into a powered shell data center, their plans submitted to the village show.
The industrial building, at 800 Devon Ave., was vacated last June by Panalpina, a freight forwarding service.
Skybox and Prologis, owner of the 16-year-old building, have proposed $13.7 million in renovations to the precast structure to get it in working order to house large computer systems by next January. That includes extensive interior renovations, adding power generators, a new roof drainage system and membrane, additional water detention infrastructure, facade enhancements, landscaping and an 8-foot-tall wrought iron perimeter fence.
Mayor Craig Johnson lauded the development team for investing in Elk Grove, while touting the village's status as one of the largest concentrations for data centers in the region and country.
"That's great for Elk Grove. It (creates) jobs for the work they're going to be doing. It's jobs for the workers when they open and operate. And it takes a building that was vacant and gets it usable in today's needs," Johnson said during a village board meeting Tuesday night.
The project is expected to create as many as 100 construction jobs, 12 to 20 permanent jobs in the data center, and another 6 to 10 security guard jobs.
To help spur the redevelopment, village trustees Tuesday endorsed a Cook County Class 6B property tax incentive that will allow the property to be assessed at lower levels for a dozen years: 10% of market value for the first decade, then 15% in the 11th year and 20% in the 12th year. Industrial property is normally assessed at 25%.
Officials representing the developer said the tax break would be critical to compete for new tenants in the marketplace, and they're hoping to have the building preleased before it's ready to open.
Elk Grove has become a hub for tech companies to house their servers, wires and related equipment, with about a dozen data centers calling the village home.
News of the proposed Devon Avenue data center comes about a year after tech giant Microsoft closed on its $52.2 million purchase of 36 acres in the new Elk Grove Technology Park, where it plans to open a data center. Plans have been reviewed by the village, but a formal groundbreaking for the project hasn't occurred.
Also last year, T5 Data Centers opened inside a 164,000-square-foot data center shell that was built as part of Brennan Investment Group's initial development of the 85-acre tech park, which is roughly bounded by Higgins Road, Lively Boulevard, Oakton Street and Stanley Street.
"We are the place to be for new technology," Johnson said.