Karis Critical Plans Data Center Complex in Naperville

A developer is proposing a data‑center campus on the long-vacant Alcatel‑Lucent office site in Naperville.

Karis Critical is planning a two-building complex on the 40-acre site near Naperville and Warrenville roads, the Daily Herald reported.

The proposal marks another potential milestone in the Interstate-88 corridor’s shift toward digital infrastructure.

Karis’ attorney Russ Whitaker said the campus will cater to telecom-centric clients and extend the site’s communications DNA — it also housed Bell Labs and Nokia previously — into the cloud era.

The proposed size of the buildings and data capacity were not reported.

Construction would start with one structure near the southwest corner of the site. A second building depends on securing more power. The project could generate over $3 million in annual property taxes, with no added load on school districts, Whitaker said.

But some city officials are tapping the brakes over concerns about electricity and water consumption, which have become flashpoints as suburbs from Hoffman Estates to Aurora court similar projects. Karis countered that water use will be lower than that of the previous 600,000-square-foot office building, which was demolished in 2023, and that Naperville’s grid can handle the first building.

The city council greenlit a $42,000 electric load study, funded by Karis.

The data center project would also include Class A office space for 70 on-site employees. The office square-footage wasn’t reported.

The development follows a regional trend, as former suburban corporate campuses are repurposed for data centers, as municipalities adapt to declining demand for office space by allowing large properties to be redeveloped for industrial uses.

That includes the 2.4 million-square-foot former Sears headquarters in Hoffman Estates, which is being demolished to make way for a data center project by Compass Datacenters.

Elk Grove Village has already emerged as a significant Chicagoland data center market, and Hoffman Estates is following suit, with big names like Microsoft receiving approval for data center facilities in the area.

—Rachel Stone