A closed abortion clinic in Minnesota is set to be replaced with a data center for a local Internet services provider (ISP). A pro-life group recently held a memorial service at the site ahead of the existing building being demolished.

The Robbinsdale Clinic building, located at 3819 West Broadway in Robbinsdale, Hennepin County, was Minnesota’s oldest abortion clinic, offering services for more than 50 years. The clinic closed in February after failing to secure enough funds to stay open. It also provided wellness exams, school and sports physicals, contraceptive care, STI testing, and immunizations.

US Internet, a local ISP, acquired the property earlier this year and is set to demolish the existing building and develop a 4,000 sq ft (371 sqm) data center. Robbinsdale City Council approved a variance and conditional use permit for the project in March.

“This data center isn’t like [what] you’re hearing on the news and the big behemoths that are being constructed,” Tim Martin, chief financial officer at US Internet, told the Robbinsdale City Council at the time. “Our data center isn’t like data mining, which is a heavy user of power. It’s really a switching station that our fiber is coming into.”

Meyer Group Architecture recently announced it has completed the design of US Internet's Robbinsdale Central Office building.

Pro-Life Action recently held a memorial service at an abortion clinic in Robbinsdale, where US Internet is planning to build the data center to support its local fiber build-out. The group held a ceremony to “remember the estimated 60,000 babies who lost their lives”. Some 75 people attended the event.

Founded in 1995, US Internet provides fiber and Internet services around the Twin Cities area. It currently operates a 20,000-square-foot facility outside Minneapolis in Minnetonka, from which it offers colocation services.

CCX Media suggests the company has around half a dozen other small exchange buildings across the region. The company has reportedly bought a site in St. Louis Park for an exchange facility.

Investment firms Everside Capital Partners and Lake Country Capital have previously invested in US Internet.