Data storage center could rise

Concerns about retail, landscaping, noise

10/28/2009 10:00 PM

By MICAH MAIDENBERG
Editor

2 Comments - Add Your Comment


McHugh's data storage facility, seen at right in this rendering, is proposed for the southwest corner of Cermak and Indiana.
Prairie District Neighborhood Alliance

Web Extra! See renderings from the project

McHugh Construction Co. wants to construct a new data storage center on the southwest corner of Cermak and Indiana, a parcel currently used for surface-level parking.

The storage facility would rise six stories, encompassing 300,000 square feet, with an entrance facing Cermak. Renderings posted to the Prairie District Neighborhood Association’s Web site show it as colored white, with bays of windows. A city staff report says the building would be made of pre-cast concrete panels.

In the Central Area Action Plan, an advisory document the Plan Commission adopted in August, Cermak is seen as becoming a “signature street,” one that connects various parts of the Near South Side.

“Cermak should tie into the charming scale of development and mix of entertainment uses concentrated in Motor Row and Chinatown, as well as areas immediately north along Wabash,” the document reads.

Some South Loop residents don’t see the center as the best use for the parcel.

“We’re disappointed it needs to go right there, adjacent to the [Motor Row] historic district, on a major commercial street,” Steve Ward, an architect who chairs the Greater South Loop Association’s development committee, said in an interview. Commercial, a hotel or even residential would be preferable, he said.

But, Ward noted McHugh could put up the structure “by right,” under the current zoning classification and said the firm had agreed to improve lighting around the building.

Tina Feldstein, president of the Prairie District Neighborhood Association, said the pitch was a departure from much-discussed plans for the area.

“The energy that has been going into this area, it has not been for a data storage facility. It has been to turn this area into a walkable, destination community, whether it serves residents or conventioneers,” Feldstein said, noting she was speaking personally and not on behalf of the PDNA.

At a meeting sponsored by the Greater South Loop Association on Saturday, some residents wondered how the storage site would integrate into the community.

The building would potentially store medical records, bank accounts and other personal data making security a priority and preempting plans for ground-level retail, something residents at GSLA’s meeting had hoped for.

Access must be limited to only those individuals that need to be in the building, said Jim McHugh, a representative from the construction company.

Dennis Beninato, the outgoing president of the GSLA who remains a member of the organization’s board, acknowledged the data storage center was not the most “warm and fuzzy” use of the land.

He called worries about losing the entertainment aspect on the parcel valid, but noted nothing concrete has emerged to push that concept forward.

“In the mid to late ’90s, when I moved in the neighborhood, we kept hearing about theatres down there,” projects which haven’t been realized, Beninato said. “You can’t let the best be the enemy of the good.”

Jon Kaplan, a spokesman from McCormick Place, the convention center that abuts the data storage parcel to the east, declined to comment on the data storage center, saying staff had not seen the proposal.

Besides getting answers about noise generated by the building, Ald. Robert Fioretti (2nd) said he would support the project.

The noise issue also came up Saturday. Because the information stored there must be available at all times, the storage center would include multiple back-up generators and receive power from two separate ComEd stations.

“The building cannot stop operating,” McHugh said.

McHugh told residents his generators would be quieter than comparable facilities for two reasons: new technology has made the equipment quieter, and while the other building’s generators are built outside, on a steel structure, theirs would be housed inside.

Representatives from McHugh said noise from the new generators would rise to about 55 decibels, which they likened to the level of noise one would hear traveling in a car at 35 miles per hour with the windows down.

The proposal was first listed on the October Plan Commission agenda but was delayed; Fioretti confirmed he asked for the deferral. Last Saturday’s meeting was the first community presentation about the project.

The Near South Planning Board, a business advocacy organization, also is backing McHugh’s project.

Danny Fenster contributed reporting.


2 Comments - Add Your Comment



By A from Motor Row
Posted: 10/30/2009 11:05 AM

Boring design, but EVERYONE was hoping that this space was going to be used for something of an entertainment purpose : GameWorks, Dave & Busters, High-end modern hotel, etc.. I know the buildings on S. Michigan, just south of Cermack will soon be high-end restaurant / roofdeck bars, but this site really should be used as an entrance way from McCormick -Motor Row-ChinaTown pathway. Since this building would need 24/7 security, it may not be a bad thing if McHugh invest into the streetscape.


By Waste of Space from South Loop
Posted: 10/29/2009 2:29 AM

Near South Planning Board supporting the project? Well there is a surprise, they have to as McHugh is a sponsor or member. McHugh admitted as such that they were trying to keep this one under wraps. What a crappy project.