Data center developer Digital Realty is getting pushback on its expansion plans near Chicago’s McCormick Place from residents of the historic Prairie District neighborhood.
The 271-foot-tall data center plan would grow the developer’s existing operation within the former R.R. Donnelly printing plant on 21st Street, yet it must overcome a rally against the proposal spearheaded by the Prairie District Neighborhood Association, Crain’s reported.
Tina Feldstein, association president and a resident of the Chess Records Lofts building across 21st from the currently vacant proposed development site, emphasized that the opposition is not against development itself.
“This is not about development. All the people who live here want development. I’m very pro-development. But I’m not in favor of putting a data center, a big wall that makes noise and pollutes the air, in a residential neighborhood,” Feldstein told the outlet.
Digital Realty Trust initially proposed a 310-foot-tall data center in 2016 but has recently scaled it back to 271 feet. However, residents as of Tuesday had gathered 685 signatures on an online petition calling for the cancellation of the project altogether.
Alderman Pat Dowell, representing the 3rd Ward that includes the site, holds the crucial decision-making power regarding the data center’s fate.
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“I have yet to make a decision to support or oppose the data center proposal,” Dowell told the publication. “I’m weighing the input I have received from the neighbors, the developers, and the city departments reviewing the proposal. I can tell you, however, that while I have heard support and opposition to the data center from the neighbors, the opposition outweighs the support as of today.”
In addition to noise and air pollution concerns, opponents have also cited a data center’s potential impact on the historic character of the neighborhood. Despite Digital Realty Trust’s efforts to downscale the project, the opposition remains focused on maintaining residential land use in the area.