The village of Franklin Park hosted a demolition event last week at the former Motorola Headquarters property.
San Francisco-based Digital Realty, which specializes in digital infrastructure for cloud-based computing, first entered the village in 2012 when it purchased the property at 9333-9377 Grand Ave. In 2016, Digital Realty purchased the 18.5-acre former Motorola Headquarters property, at 9401 W. Grand Ave., which had been vacant for nearly 20 years.
“We’ve had a great amount of success at our campus in Franklin Park that’s right across the street [from the former Motorola building]. And so we’d like to continue to expand within the village and within close proximity to the campus we already have here,” said Edward Pendarvis, the director of acquisitions and investments at Digital Realty.
For the new facility’s construction, Digital Realty plans to recycle as much as it can of the former Motorola’s building materials during the demolition. Additionally, Digital Realty plans to build a 78,000-square-foot ComEd substation to handle its new 470,000-square-foot data storage center’s increased use of the village’s electrical grid.
“Once this building comes down, the plan is to redevelop the site, much as we have next door, in order to continue to add a data center expansion in Franklin Park,” Pendarvis said. “Data centers are really the backbone of the internet. The internet lives in the buildings that we manage, and our tenants are some of the largest technology firms in the world. Those firms run their technology platforms out of our business. Because of this, the buildings are very specialized and allow our servers to exist so they can be run efficiently and effectively for our customers.”
Part of the reason that Digital Realty first moved into the village is its close proximity to multiple fiber optic providers, utility substations as well as short travel times to O’Hare International Airport and the Chicago Loop, according to a news release provided by the village.
“The village is thrilled to grow with Digital Reality,” Village President Barrett Pedersen said. “This demolition marks a historic return of tech-based investment and innovation to the village.”
During the demolition event on Jan. 25, village officials said that two bas-relief sculptures located on the building’s exterior are to be removed by Digital Reality and donated to the village for public display. Village officials said that artwork will be put in storage while a new permanent location is considered.
Alex V. Hernandez is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
