A public meeting about a proposed data center project outside Chicago, Illinois, was postponed after too many people showed up.

Data center development and advisory firm Cloud Centers has requested approval of a special use permit for the development and operation of an approximately 50MW colocation data center.

Construction on the two-story, 256,000 sq ft (23,785 sqm) facility could start by Q3 2026, with the site launching by the end of 2027.

More than 300 people reportedly showed up for the village’s planning and zoning commission meeting this week, exceeding the 250-person capacity in the village board chambers and overflow room. It could be several weeks until the meeting is reconvened at a larger venue.

Lisle is a village in DuPage County, on the western outskirts of Chicago, near Naperville.

The property, at 711 Ogden Avenue, was previously occupied by sheet metal equipment manufacturer Lockformer Company, which provides roll forming machines to build HVAC equipment and ducts. The company had been present there since the 1960s, but has been vacant since around 2005. A ComEd-owned is around 500 ft (152 meters) away.

Lisle DC, LLC is the listed property owner, alongside Hamilton Partners-affiliated HP Wells Street, LLC and Mestek, Inc.

The site was up for sale back in 2022, being pitched by JLL as a potential data center site. The ~18-acre site currently features a 12,000 sq ft (1,100 sqm) single-story office and manufacturing building.

The property is a superfund site, having previously been contaminated with trichloroethylene (TCE) that Lockformer had used as a degreaser. The state sued the company over the contamination in the early 2000s. Lockformer’s parent company, Met-Coil, was acquired by Mestek in 2001.

Cloud Centers provides data center development, investment, and advisory services. The company has been involved with data center projects in Chicago, Utah, Georgia, Minnesota, Texas, and California, as well as a project in the Philippines. Several were for colocation firm DataBank.