A data center campus could be coming to the northwest corner of Warrenville and Naperville Road, though it is facing some pushback from residents.
The proposed site would take the spot of the former Alcatel-Lucent site at 1960 Lucent Lane, located within the Nokia campus in Naperville. The nearly 40-acre site at 1960 Lucent Lane went under demolition beginning in 2023.
While the property along Naperville’s I-88 technology and research corridor is owned by Oak Brook-based Franklin Partners, the developer for the project is Karis Critical, a company that has worked on data center facilities across the country.
Two separate data center buildings are being proposed as part of the campus, with the buildings designed as “mirror images” of each other, according to documents submitted to the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission. Each building will consist of about 211,000 square feet and while the main purpose of the two buildings is to house interconnected computer systems, both buildings will also contain office components.
The completed campus is expected to have a capacity of 72 megawatts.
“We see this as more of a boutique-type facility, much smaller in scale,” Russ Whitaker, an attorney representing the developer, said. “The idea is that it’s part of the computer network that really serves the Chicagoland region.”
The proposal is Naperville’s first request for a standalone data center, according to Allison Laff, deputy director of the city’s transportation, engineering and development department. The campus will act as a co-location facility, meaning that the space will be built and rented to various companies who are serving the Chicago area, Whitaker explained.
“Everyone’s using social media, people and companies are using AI on a greater basis, and so companies have a greater need for security and reliability of their network, and this kind of data center is critical to that infrastructure,” Whitaker said.
Data centers have popped up across Illinois in recent years, with Gov. JB Pritzker supporting efforts to attract such facilities to the state.
Meta turned on the switch for a $1 billion DeKalb data center in 2023, marking its 12th facility in the U.S. and 15th worldwide, per earlier Chicago Tribune reporting. The former Sears campus in Hoffman Estates is being converted into a campus with five hyperscale data centers for the company Compass Datacenters, according to Daily Herald reporting. A new data center campus developed by CyrusOne broke ground last fall in Aurora, marking its second location in the nearby suburb, per the Beacon News.
The Batavia City Council also recently voted in favor of a service agreement to provide energy for a proposed 50-megawatt data center in the city.
“Illinois has identified the development of data centers as a necessary component of state infrastructure,” Whitaker said. “What we’re doing here is entirely consistent with state priorities for data center development.”
Karis’ Naperville campus would be developed in two phases. Phase 1 would focus on building the southwest portion of the site, with construction divided up into two sub-phases. Work for phase 2 would focus on the second building alongside creating an electrical substation in support of the building operations. Construction of phase 2 will also depend on the availability of electricity to support operations.
Completion of Phase 1 of the project would bring in about 70 employees, with tenants representing different companies also coming through the building on a daily basis.
Multiple buildings surround the property at 1960 Lucent Lane, including remaining buildings from the Nokia campus and two housing subdivisions located near the campus: the Indian Hill Woods Subdivision to the west and the Naper Commons Townhomes to the north.
When asked about potential impact of the data center to nearby housing, Whitaker said that the data center would be “low-impact” compared to other potential industrial uses for the site. He pointed to the city’s amendment of its zoning code to move away from warehouse, storage and distribution facilities along the I-88 Corridor as an example.
“I think the city has taken affirmative steps in the last couple of years to facilitate this kind of use in the zoning district,” Whitaker said.
Whitaker also said that the project would bring in somewhere between $2 to $3 million in tax revenue to the city of Naperville.
“There’s going to be a significant increase in values, property taxes. So at build out, we project over $1.3 million a year in new revenue… to taxing districts. And that’s about a million dollars to District 203 with zero new students,” Whitaker said.
The idea of a data center in Naperville has not gone without questions from City Council members.
At a May 20 council meeting, council members approved a study to examine the impact of such a data center on Naperville’s electricity usage. Councilman Patrick Kelly at that meeting emphasized that while he was willing to approve the study, he expressed concern about the impact such a data center could have on the city’s electricity and water.
Councilman Ian Holzhauer expressed similar concerns and indicated that he is against adding such a facility to the I-88 corridor.
Naperville residents have also pushed back against the proposal. A petition is circulating online urging the city to block the proposal, citing concerns such as negative environmental impacts, health and safety risks and infrastructure strain.
With regards to environmental concerns, Whitaker said that the proposed facility will use less than 5,000 gallons of water a day, which is less water usage than that of the 600,000 square foot office previously located at the site. He also acknowledged the concerns around electricity usage.
“There will be some significant electric usage, and we’ve had conversations with Naperville and are engaged in the study to ensure that there’s sufficient load in the Naperville system to be able to supply the facility,” Whitaker said.
cstein@chicagotribune.com
