CyrusOne has received approval for its application to rezone land for a data center campus in Kendall County, outside Chicago, Illinois.
First reported by WSPY News, the Yorkville Planning and Zoning Commission voted to recommend annexing and rezoning 230 acres of land from R1 single-family suburban residential to M2 general manufacturing.
Plans for the data center campus were first shared earlier this month.
The land in question is located in Yorkville within the Chicago Metropolitan area, east of Eldamain Road, north of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad and Faxon Road, and west of Beecher Road.
C1 Yorkville (a subsidiary of CyrusOne) and Green Door Capital (dba Yorkville Nexus LLC) requested special use authorization for a Planned Unit Development (PUD) and preliminary PUD Plan approval for a data center campus.
The PUD for the data center project was unanimously approved for recommendation. The city council will now vote to approve rezoning two parcels of land and the PUD.
Russ Whitaker, a spokesperson for CyrusOne, said the project would consist of up to nine two-story buildings developed over 10-20 years and an on-site substation.
Community members have spoken against rezoning the land, citing concerns about construction and noise levels. Currently, two homeowners’ properties sit between the land that is up for rezoning.
CyrusOne currently owns and operates a two-building campus near Yorkville in Aurora at 2905 Diehl Road.
Purchased by an affiliate of CyrusOne in 2016, the company recently filed to construct another building at the campus, in addition to expanding near the site.
It also operates a site at 1850 Springer Drive in Lombard.
The Chicago area is one of the largest data center markets in North America, but the availability of server space is low. According to a report from Newmark released earlier this month, data center inventory in the region has increased 35 percent over the last five years, but availability is running at just 1.6 percent.
Microsoft recently acquired 500 acres close to Yorkville in nearby Plano.