Prime Data Centers has broken ground on a new campus in Chicago, Illinois.
The company this week announced the groundbreaking of its $1 billion campus at 1600 East Higgins Road in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. This will be Prime’s first data center in the state of Illinois and its first development outside of California.
First announced in September 2021, the 17-acre Prime ORD will deliver more than 750,000 square feet (96,700 sqm) and 175MW of capacity at full build-out at full build-out.
ORD-01 is the first of three planned buildings and will be marketed as a single-tenant hyperscale data center. The 384,000 sq ft (35,700 sqm) building will deliver 200,000 sq ft (18,580 sqm) of data hall space and up to 72MW across three stories.
"On behalf of everyone at Prime, I would like to thank Elk Grove Village and the numerous contractors and team members involved in readying ORD-01 for groundbreaking," Nicholas Laag, chief executive officer of Prime Data Centers, said. "The partnership between Elk Grove and the data center industry has led to unprecedented growth and positive economic impact. Looking ahead, we will continue to partner with forward-thinking governments, executing on an aggressive, multinational expansion plan that will establish Prime as the data center foundation for the global proliferation of content creation and cloud solutions."
Attendees at the groundbreaking event last week included Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson, executives from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, and project partners ComEd, Clune Construction Company, and Gensler.
"I couldn't be happier to welcome our new neighbors at Prime Data Centers to Illinois as they break ground on their Chicago data center campus," said Governor JB Pritzker. "We aren't just the heart of the Midwest- we are a national leader in innovation and business growth, in large part thanks to companies like Prime. From the outset of my administration, I have prioritized attracting companies in the rapidly growing data center industry.
"Thanks to those efforts and our reputation as a global tech hub, we have 15 operating data centers investing more than $4.6 billion in our communities - all while creating hundreds of jobs. This data center brings with it economic opportunity at every turn - for residents of Elk Grove, greater Chicago, and throughout our great state. Congratulations to the entire Prime team on this extraordinary groundbreaking."
Two more buildings are planned; building B will be another three-story construction, offering 162,000 sq ft (15,050 sqm) of data hall space and 63MW, while building C will offer 36MW across two stories and 94,000 sq ft (8,730 sqm) of data hall space. Timelines for completion haven’t been shared.
