CHICAGO—Fiber optic networks converge on the Chicago metropolitan area in the same way that highways, railroads and air routes do, and that means the city and its suburbs could reap huge benefits in the near future as the need for powerful data centers fed by the networks keeps growing.
“Chicago continues to be a very desirable market,” Ascent chief executive officer Phil Horstmann tells GlobeSt.com. And, as reported in GlobeSt.com, Ascent, one of the nation's largest providers of data center solutions, proved that again by recently securing TransUnion as a tenant for its newest suite at the CH2 Data Center Facility in suburban Northlake. Earlier this year, Ascent sold the facility to Carter Validus Mission Critical REIT, Inc. for $211.7 million, but continues to operate and manage all development, design, construction and engineering.
The Northlake facility has 250,000-square-feet and features Ascent's Dynamic Data Center Suite model and colocation suites. It can accommodate a diverse range of tenants, from those that need less than 1 MW of gross power, to those that need 20 MW.
TransUnion, a credit and information management firm, now occupies a suite which has 1.2 MW of power. The project – from design to build-out – was completed in seven months. And Horstmann says the CH2 facility, which they began in 2010, has about 60,000-square-feet of open shell space. That should be enough to accommodate about two additional tenants in suites which can include office space, shipping and receiving areas, among other uses, in addition to the actual data center.
“We cater to enterprise users and every one of these suites is designed for their specific needs,” Horstmann adds. TransUnion, for example, “controls its own security. They are in full control of access to that suite.” Although this is not the usual arrangement for data center users, as a credit information firm, TransUnion considered it essential.
Horstmann is optimistic that the amenities offered at the site, and by the Chicago area in general, will bring in the tenants needed to fill up the facility. The CH2 facility, he points out, has its own power substation, allowing users to draw in power for a substantially-reduced cost. “We are one of only three data center sites that have their own transmission substation.”
Above all, Horstmann says that Chicago is the place to be “for a number of user groups and for a number of reasons – the city's telecommunications infrastructure, its central and low risk location which should be of particular interest to the east and west coast businesses, the area's low power costs, and the climate that lends itself to even better operational numbers from an efficiency standpoint.”
Continue Reading for Free
Register and gain access to:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Brian J. Rogal
Brian J. Rogal is a Chicago-based freelance writer with years of experience as an investigative reporter and editor, most notably at The Chicago Reporter, where he concentrated on housing issues. He also has written extensively on alternative energy and the payments card industry for national trade publications.
