Data center player adds to O’Hare assemblage for $14M

UPDATED, June 12, 2023 5:30 p.m.:

Texas-based data center developer Aligned has added another suburban office building to its growing assemblage in Elk Grove Village.

The firm, led by CEO Andrew Schaap, bought the 177,000-square-foot office building at 150 Northwest Point Boulevard in the northwest suburb near O’Hare International Airport for about $14.2 million last month, according to Cook County records.

The seller was food industry services company Topco, which occupied the office building and acquired the property for $13.9 million in 2012, according to public records. Developer Bridge Industrial had received approval from local officials to build a speculative industrial facility next door to the site in November 2021, the Daily Herald reported last year, and it’s unclear how Aligned’s purchase could impact those plans. The seller did not respond to a request for comment.

It’s the latest property Aligned has acquired in the area around O’Hare. The data center player has now spent at least $78 million to acquire a total of around 36 acres across several deals for office properties that look primed for redevelopment. A spokeswoman for Aligned declined to comment on the developer’s plans.

The developer bought 101 and 141 Northwest Point Boulevard in two separate deals in April that totaled $35 million, after picking up 50 Northwest Point Boulevard for about $29 million in March.

As offices in suburban Chicago have seen lower and lower values, those properties have been targeted for industrial redevelopment by developers willing to pay a higher price per square foot for well-located sites. The three office buildings Aligned acquired previously are aging Class B properties.

Another office building, a Rolling Meadows property facing foreclosure, is the site of a $100 million project from Rosemont-based Brennan Investment Group to build a logistics campus. Developers Franklin Partners and Ryan Companies are also eyeing office-to-warehouse projects in Naperville.

And while demand for office space has slumped, demand for hyperscale, which refers to data centers’ hardware, facilities and capabilities, was strong in the second half of 2022, with vacancy continuing a downward trajectory and resting below 6 percent during that time period, according to a February report from CBRE.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misidentified Bridge Industrial as the seller of 150 Northwest Point. It has been updated to correct that Topco was the seller. It was also updated to clarify that Bridge’s development site is adjacent to the office building.

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