Aligned gears up for 1M sf data center project in Elk Grove Village

Aligned Data Centers is ready to swing the wrecking ball after acquiring an assemblage of beleaguered office properties near O’Hare International Airport.

The Texas-based firm aims to replace four office buildings in Elk Grove Village’s Northwest Point with two data centers, spanning more than 1 million square feet, and an electrical substation, the Daily Herald reported. 

The $285 million project is part of the village’s vision of redeveloping the area into an “innovation and technology center” through zoning and design guidelines. 

Aligned acquired the properties over the course of several months last year. First, it paid over $29 million for the 177,000-square-foot building at 50 Northwest Point Boulevard. The firm then bought 101 and 141 Northwest Point for $35 million in two separate deals, followed by its $14.2 million purchase of the building at 50 Northwest Point. 

The company’s plan for the 36-acre site calls for a pair of two-story, 520,000-square-foot data centers to house servers, wires and other equipment. The development is expected to create 21 jobs, the outlet said. 

The village board has supported the project by endorsing Aligned’s application for a Cook County Class 6B tax incentive. The incentive offers reduced property tax assessments for 12 years. Without it, the heavy tax burden would have rendered the project infeasible, according to the developer.

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Construction of the first data center is scheduled to commence by the end of the year, with an estimated completion in late 2028. The timeline for the second building will span from 2026 to 2029.

Several other suburban office properties are being redeveloped in light of the remote-work era and other challenges that drove up Chicagoland’s office vacancy rate to a record-high of 30.2 percent in the fourth quarter. In Glenview, for instance, Dermody Properties is converting the former Allstate campus into a 10-building, 3.2 million-square-foot logistics park. 

—Quinn Donoghue