Skybox Datacenters and Prologis are investing $13.7 million to convert an empty warehouse in Illinois into a data center.
The two companies were granted 6B Tax Break - which offers a real estate tax incentive for the development of new industrial facilities, the rehabilitation of existing industrial structures, and the industrial re-utilization of abandoned buildings - by Elk Grove Village trustees for the project during a February 9 village board meeting.
Prologis is a supply chain-focused warehouse REIT, best known for owning most of Amazon's e-commerce warehouses.
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Elk Grove gets another data center
The two companies plan to convert a vacant warehouse at 800 E. Devon Ave in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, northwest of Chicago. The 189,000 square foot Prologis-owned site was built in 2005 and has been vacant since 2020. The aim is to turn the facility into a “turnkey data center powered shell” with a projected completion date of January 2022.
Renovations to the site would include adding power generators, a new roof drainage system, water detention infrastructure, facade enhancements, landscaping, and an eight-foot iron fence around the perimeter.
"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," said Mayor Craig Johnson at a recent meeting.
A 6B property tax incentive lowers property tax rates for a period of 12 years, reducing rates from 25 percent to 10 percent for the first 10 years, before incrementally rising to 15, 20, and 25 percent in the following years.
Elk Grove is already a major hub of data centers in the midwest. Stream Data Centers announced plans for a second facility in Elk Grove late last year, Microsoft is currently building a data center in area, while T5 announced a new facility in Elk Grove Technology Park in January last 2020.
