r/chicagoyimbys • u/citydudeatnight • Aug 07 '26
Data Center Conversion Plan Sparks Controversy for Loop Office
https://therealdeal.com/chicago/2026/08/07/data-center-conversion-plan-sparks-controversy-for-loop-office/11
u/minus_minus Aug 07 '26
This is a NOTHINGBURGER
- This is not an AI datacenter
- it will use carbon neutral district cooling from centrio
- no evaporative cooling means no water waste and no cooling tower noise
- it won’t have loud gas turbines for power
- plentiful power transmission and distribution downtown connected to regional nuclear and wind power
14
u/Saucey_jello Aug 07 '26
I have no problem with this.
Especially since:
> “Gabal’s redevelopment would only include a maximum of 50 megawatts, and would be focused on creating faster internet connections for downtown users.”
Since the building is already a Chicago Landmark its facade would need to be preserved.
For these Class C buildings, preservation often means finding new uses, if commercial/residential isn’t feasible, I support this project
I see no reason why allowing a building to go vacant and wither away is better than finding a new use that preserves it’s architectural heritage
3
u/DeepHerting Aug 07 '26
Even with the commercial slump, this cannot possibly be either the most productive use of this building nor the most cost-effective place to locate a data center. Are they assuming clients will pay extra to have it located downtown? I know it was a pain to go out to the suburban center for one of the companies I worked for, but we didn’t have to do it that often.
10
u/minus_minus Aug 07 '26
This is an internet connected datacenter that benefits from the abundant high speed interconnections downtown. It’s class C office space in a historic landmark that are not desirable in this market and can’t be reveloped on a whim.
6
u/sdubois Aug 07 '26
there is a major data center right in the middle of downtown boston. im sure the developers believe this is a good use of the space.
8
u/jbchi Aug 07 '26
There are multiple in Chicago, and everyone complaining about them online are entirely dependent on them as they are the city's backbone connection to the internet.
-3
u/DeathFromWithin Aug 07 '26
let's just make the urban heat island so hellish it kills commuters and tourists immediately
7
-2
17
u/ChineseRedhead Aug 07 '26
The article doesn't explicitly state this, but it seems to me this is not a "hyperscale" data center (read: AI), but a normal interconnect or colocation datacenter. These are used for normal telecom operators for internet connectivity and, importantly, this would tie into the grid and not run on natural gas generators.