CHICAGO | General Developments

[Tom In Chicago]

Originally Posted by denizen467

A URL has appeared on the site construction fencing next to McCormick West:

http://www.111cermak.com
(For some reason was unable to post the renders here.)

Why this prime location ought to be used for a data center is beyond me...

Because it's near the Lakeside Technology Center. . . an existing data center. . .

. . .

[the urban politician]

^ Data hubs are becoming a vital part of Chicago's economy

[richb]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ Data hubs are becoming a vital part of Chicago's economy

The location is perfect for a data center. The area just south of downtown has more fiber connections joining up and coming together in this little area then almost any other place in the USA. It will be the biggest business there soon if it isn't already. Its been a big connection point for the phone companies for decades already. To be honest I'm surprised the old post office isn't already a huge data center, maybe it's not close to anything at this point. But I wouldn't be surprised if that's what it would someday could be. Its deep floor-plates wouldn't be as big of a problem as most other uses. There will be other data centers soon. It would be a good location just because of being close to the loop, but the connections that good can't be had in many places. Like the article says, its like the railroads where a hundred years ago.

[Ch.G, Ch.G]

^ I had no idea. That's really great; it makes me more confident about the city's future.

[Loopy]

.

[denizen467]

^ Awesome background info and articles.

The original question was, why right on Cermak, and immediately next to McCormick Place? That's a corner for hotel or commercial use. Throughout the rest of the South Loop there are scores of empty lots -- many abutting rail r-o-w for laying cable -- that are crying out for redevelopment and that (more importantly) should be cheaper land than Cermak & Indiana. Even within a 4-block radius there are dozens of other empty lots. Glaringly, the CHA just levelled a couple blocks at State and 24th (though perhaps not available for private purchase).

Merely having proximity to the converted RR Donnelley facility (I think that's the same as the Lakeside Technology building Tom referred to) would not seem to offer benefits outweighing the land use/land price question. So maybe there are other big factors - for example, is there district chilling at/around McCormick for the massive heat this center will generate? Or maybe data centers try to stick to established/safe neighborhoods, so that frequent or emergency night maintenance doesn't become an employee safety issue. Or you just don't put millions of dollars of equipment (and billions of dollars of time-sensitive data) in deserted neighborhoods near legacy public housing, etc.

Either way, it's a tiny bit surprising that McPier/Daley aren't laying claim to McCormick's perimeter for even the most modest future expansion or associated facilities.

[Mr Downtown]

^I think the main reason is that McHugh wants to develop right now rather than wait for the hotel market to rebound. If I'm not mistaken, they had purchased this site to use as construction offices and staging during construction of MP4. Now they want to get out from under it, and for a construction company, building something probably is more appealing than taking a modest profit (if that) on the dirt.

[VivaLFuego]

Originally Posted by ardecila

The ENTIRE block? Up to 56th? That's absurd. Couldn't the University make money using those buildings, or renting them out, until the land is needed? Why do they need the buildings demolished, anyway? They can't really claim they need more green space when Washington Park is literally 60 feet away.

Tax-exempt entities have far less incentive to seek any return on their land investment, so they often don't bother, favoring instead the lower operating cost and minimized administrative headache of a vacant lot or surface parking lot --- hence the many church and synagogue parking lots in incomprehensibly high value locations, the huge tracts of prairie owned by the IMD, and so on. To the extent such entities maintain or develop real estate it is only in pursuit of their mission/goal, without an eye towards normal decision-making criteria like cap rates, ROI, depreciation, and so forth. On the one hand, I can't fault the entities for acting this way, as it's the natural course of action given the system in which they operate. It's more a problem of we the taxpaying public not demanding a higher level of input/veto over such decisions in exchange for the tax-exemption subsidy such entities receive.

[brian_b]

Originally Posted by Ch.G, Ch.G

^ I had no idea. That's really great; it makes me more confident about the city's future.

http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/s...-data-centers/

Lakeside is the largest data center in the world. But that's not all - the #1, #5 and #8 largest data centers in the world are in Chicago.

[k1052]

Originally Posted by richb

To be honest I'm surprised the old post office isn't already a huge data center

It had been actively considered for that use some time ago but the expressway running through it made for a signifigant security concern and insurance problem so the idea was scrapped.

[left of center]

Originally Posted by Ch.G, Ch.G

^ I had no idea. That's really great; it makes me more confident about the city's future.

i know, right? gives you that warm cozy feeling inside when you just find out we are the world leader in (fill in the blank).

its great to have that kind of infrastructure in place, but how many people do these data centers employ though? it would be nice if these massive data centers could spawn more of a tech community or hub in Chicago, ala the Bay Area or Metro Boston. One of my friends recently graduated from IIT with an computer engineering degree and was only able to stay in Chicago by getting a job at Motorola (The home and networks division. The cell phone division is unprofitable, breaking off from the rest of the company, and may be moving to Silicon Valley).

[Ch.G, Ch.G]

^ Totally. Thanks for all the information, everyone. It sounds like the economic benefit is indirect; certain businesses (financial firms?) are more likely to locate to a city with this kind of infrastructure. At least, that's what I gleaned. Maybe someone with more knowledge can elaborate further...?

[Tom In Chicago]

Originally Posted by denizen467

The original question was, why right on Cermak, and immediately next to McCormick Place? That's a corner for hotel or commercial use. Throughout the rest of the South Loop there are scores of empty lots -- many abutting rail r-o-w for laying cable -- that are crying out for redevelopment and that (more importantly) should be cheaper land than Cermak & Indiana. Even within a 4-block radius there are dozens of other empty lots. Glaringly, the CHA just levelled a couple blocks at State and 24th (though perhaps not available for private purchase).

Merely having proximity to the converted RR Donnelley facility (I think that's the same as the Lakeside Technology building Tom referred to) would not seem to offer benefits outweighing the land use/land price question. So maybe there are other big factors - for example, is there district chilling at/around McCormick for the massive heat this center will generate? Or maybe data centers try to stick to established/safe neighborhoods, so that frequent or emergency night maintenance doesn't become an employee safety issue. Or you just don't put millions of dollars of equipment (and billions of dollars of time-sensitive data) in deserted neighborhoods near legacy public housing, etc.

Either way, it's a tiny bit surprising that McPier/Daley aren't laying claim to McCormick's perimeter for even the most modest future expansion or associated facilities.

You're making an assumption that a pedestrian observation on land use equates to availability. . . this isn't Russia. . . so whomever owns the vacant property has the right to do with it whatever he wants as long as it falls within zoning guidelines. . . and just because a site is vacant doesn't mean that it's owners are even interested in selling it, developing it, or even aware that they own a potentially valuable piece of property. . . the owner of a vacant lot could simply be some retired old geezer living in Miami Beach blissfully unaware of the potential his property has. . .

. . .

[Busy Bee]

Originally Posted by Tom In Chicago

...this isn't Russia...

More accurately Tom, this isn't China...

[denizen467]

^^ Indeed, those are possible explanations. But those weren't assumptions I made, so much as they were just generic factors I left out of the discussion (they could come up with virtually any project), so as to focus on factors unique and specific to this project. This is kind of an exciting topic, seeing as data centers have rarely been discussed here, and the whole McCormick area's development is so important and multifaceted.

That datacenterknowledge.com article was really fascinating. Lakeside is truly a 1.1 msf monster - even most multibuilding data-center campuses in other cities are still smaller than it. It apparently does share a chilling system with McCormick and the Hyatt (8.5 million gals - I wonder where that ranks in the US). Given how suited RR Donnelley's high ceilings, heavy duty floors, and wide risers were for a data center, it would seem the Old Post Office and data would be a marriage made in heaven. It's a shame about the railway and highway under it (and whatever other achilles heels it has).

[denizen467]

http://www.chicagobreakingbusiness.c...lis-tower.html

Published on April 19, 2010 4:01 PM
By Becky Yerak

Thoma Bravo is becoming the second private equity firm in the past year to move out of Willis Tower, formerly known as Sears Tower, and into a new office building at 300 N. LaSalle. About a year ago GTCR Golder Rauner LLC also left Willis for 300 N. LaSalle.

"Our 10-year lease was up, and we felt that the quality of the Sears (Willis) Tower had dropped," a Thoma spokesman said.

He also cited other factors: inconvenient security for visitors; tourists now allowed in what had been the business lobbies; and "poor maintenance" of many common areas.

"At the same time, many members of our staff preferred to be north of the river and 300 North is becoming somewhat of the new private equity neighborhood," he said.

Thoma has been in 9200 Sears Tower. At 300 N. LaSalle, it will be in suite 4350.

...

[Rizzo]

LOL, tenant to landlord slam followed by generic positive response by management.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by Hayward

LOL, tenant to landlord slam followed by generic positive response by management.

They entirely deserved that slam, too. The quality at the Willis Tower is noticably lacking to the quality of the Sears Tower just 10 years ago. A lot of little things just in the public areas are noticably worse, and then they spend a bunch of money on things like that ridiculous globe instead of actually fixing problems like cracked stone and non-functioning sidewalk heating (for snow melt).

[BWChicago]

Originally Posted by emathias

They entirely deserved that slam, too. The quality at the Willis Tower is noticably lacking to the quality of the Sears Tower just 10 years ago. A lot of little things just in the public areas are noticably worse, and then they spend a bunch of money on things like that ridiculous globe instead of actually fixing problems like cracked stone and non-functioning sidewalk heating (for snow melt).

Wasn't the Sears Tower sign granite and the Willis fiberglass? That says a lot.

[ChicagoChicago]

Willis Tower's interior is dated. The lobby is a trainwreck. The visitor check-in is a pain in the ass.