CoreSite Slates 14th St. Data Center

Denver-based CoreSite Realty plans to build a 175,000-square-foot data center after its $4.5 million purchase of two acres of land at 550 W. 14th St., close to its existing center at 427 S. LaSalle St.

“We are very positive on the downtown Chicago market based on the expansion needs of our customers,” CoreSite CEO Paul Szurek told Crain’s Chicago Business. “(There’s an) increasing desire for more scalable and power efficient data center space, and a large number of enterprises in downtown Chicago who are likely moving to hybrid-cloud IT architectures.”

Szurek added that ground-breaking will likely take place in late 2018 or early 2019. Construction would begin before pre-leasing.

The CoreSite 14th St. project would be the first ground-up large data center built downtown in at least 10 years. Digital Realty is planning a facility at 330 E. Cermak Road, but the developer wants half of it preleased before breaking ground.

For comments, questions or concerns, please contact Dave Sorter