In a year-end purchase that will eventually result in a $200 million redevelopment project, Red Sea Group USA and Server Farm Realty Inc. (SFRI) completed its acquisition of a 443,446-square-foot, eight-story building at 840 S. Canal St. in Chicago for $33.15 million, or nearly $75 per square foot. Northern Trust Corp. was the seller.
Built in 2000, the property was used as a technology data and operations center on different occasions for General Electric, Continental Bank and Bank of America. Northern Trust was the most recent owner/user employing approximately 1,100 workers in the facility.
When SFRI's redevelopment of the building is completed in September, it will become one of the largest data centers in the Midwest.
“Chicago is one of the hottest data center markets in the United States,” said Avner Papouchado, SFRI's president and chief executive officer. “We picked this location for its ability to deliver unmatched power density, high speed connectivity and a time-to-market that is currently unavailable anywhere else in the Chicago market.”
"The data center market in the Loop area has been tight for some time now due to the limited supply of qualified alternatives. This property helps fill that void with its 38 MW of dedicated power from multiple feeds, heavy floor loads, high ceilings, redundant infrastructure, robust security, connectivity from 10 different carriers and most of all--speed to market," said Op2mize President Geoffrey Kasselman, SIOR, LEED AP.
Kasselman and Thomas Bueltmann, LEED Green Associate at Op2mize, and Bryan Loewen, leader of Newmark Knight Frank's global date center practice group, negotiated for the buyers. Craig McKesson, Michael Sessa and Dan Maslauski of Jones Lang LaSalle represented the seller.