CyrusOne has broken ground on its 40MW data center campus outside of Chicago in Aurora, Illinois.
Set on a 32-acre site, the campus will comprise two data center buildings spanning 446,000 sq ft (46,500 sqm) across from Interstate 88 on Bilter Road in Kendall County.
The data center provider first filed plans for the campus in June this year.
Further details of the data center have not yet been provided, but according to the filings, the development will also see the build of three telecommunications towers and facilities for backup generators.
“With Chicagoland being the third-largest data center market nationally and demand continuing surging, this expansion aligns perfectly with our strategic plan to enhance our capacity and capabilities,” said Eric Schwartz, CEO at CyrusOne.
“This investment reinforces our commitment to innovation and meeting the evolving needs of our customer base in this critical market.”
The operator added the facility is scalable to meet future growth needs.
The groundbreaking was attended by Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, who added: “When I became governor, I pledged to make Illinois a home for the high-tech, high-growth industries of the future. This groundbreaking is the culmination of years of work with our partners at CyrusOne, and secures hundreds of construction jobs as well as over twenty data positions for the people of our state.”
The new campus will join the operator’s existing Aurora campus, purchased in 2016. At the time, the campus featured a single 428,000 sq ft (40,000 sqm) facility. CyrusOne added a second facility to the site in 2017 and a third facility last year.
KKR-owned CyrusOne has invested a total capital investment of more than $1 billion in the state of Illinois.
Last month, CyrusOne was said to be planning a $150 million data center development in New Albany, Ohio.
Digital Realty, Iron Mountain, Stream DC, Hivelocity, and NTT all operate data centers in the Chicago area.
Acquired by KKR and Global Infrastructure partners in 2022, CyrusOne currently operates 50 facilities globally, including 32 in the US.