The city of Aurora will negotiate with CyrusOne, LLC for expansion of its data center on land the city once considered for hotel and retail development.
Officials have called it the classic win-win situation.
A change in zoning use for 30 acres along Bilter Road, just west of the westbound access to Interstate 88 on the far East Side, could allow CyrusOne to expand, and the city to recapture some of the costs associated with that I-88 interchange about 16 years ago.
Aldermen on Tuesday night unanimously approved the city entering into negotiations with CyrusOne.
Dallas-based CyrusOne operates a large data center at Diehl and Eola roads. The company originally had a 428,000-square-foot building there which it purchased, and added a 440,000-square-foot addition next door.
The company is now running out of space, and wants to build another 428,000-square-foot building on the 30 acres near its current facility.
CyrusOne has 24 data centers across the country, but the Aurora one is one of its most significant because it handles data for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, as well as a number of foreign exchanges. The company serves nine of the Fortune 20 and 180 of the Fortune 1000 companies, along with more than 950 customers, officials said.
The company approached the city about changing zoning for the 30 acres, one of the final pieces of the DuPage Ventures property that brought the Butterfield development to the city.
The city has marketed the property for years as a potential home for a hotel, and at one point, specifically banned data centers from consideration for it.
But city officials have said the market has changed, and not only are data centers in high demand, the area near Cyrus One is becoming a home for them.
Endeavour Edged, an international data center company, is currently building a $500 million, carbon-neutral project in three buildings at Bilter and Eola roads, just to the east of the 30 acres CyrusOne is considering.
Edged officials have said they would bring a Fortune 100 company, such as Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook or Amazon, as an anchor user of the buildings.
The company also is building a five-station electric vehicle charging facility that would include a retail building that could expand in the future.
As far as hotel uses go, the city now has the $360 million Hollywood Casino-Aurora resort, which is set to feature a hotel, planned just to the west at Bilter Road and Farnsworth Avenue.
The city and CyrusOne will negotiate a deal to change the zoning on the 30-acre site for a fee. The city could recapture some of the $9.3 million it spent in 2008 on the interchange project.
When an agreement is reached, city staff will bring it back before the City Council for approval.
slord@tribpub.com
