Sterling Bay Buys Chicago Property for Potential Data Center

There’s an early stage data center project in the works in Chicago. Sterling Bay Cos. paid a little over $23.5m for a four-acre West Loop property which it will use to build a data center. Primarily known for activity with Office properties, Sterling Bay Cos. is believed to be in talks with a national data center developer to build a data center on the Desplaines property, according to Chicago Real Estate Daily.

The Chicago developer bought the site at 717-727 S. Desplaines St.  It’s located along the east side of the Dan Ryan Expressway. “That kind of acreage is hard to come by at that location,” Sterling Bay Principal Scott Goodman said to the Chicago Real Estate Daily. It was purchased from a group of investors including the chairmen of two Chicago-based real estate firms, Development Resources Inc.'s James DeRose and HSA Commercial Real Estate's Jack Shaffer, Cook County records show.

Chicago Moves

Digital Realty bought a campus in Suburban Chicago last June, acquiring a 575,000 square foot redevelopment property in Franklin Park, Ill. for $22.3 million. Latisys added 10,000 square feet to an Oakbrook, Ill facility in November, and in April, data center developer Ascent Corporation closed on $107 million in debt financing to fund the expansion of its CH2 project in Chicago and to enter new markets.

Chicago is a strong market, without a lot of room, so whenever a potential property like this one springs up, Data Center Knowledge tends to take notice. More and more, the real estate world is entering into the data center market – this is very early stage, and we’ll report back once more is confirmed.