The landscape of Aurora continues to evolve with substantial investments in data center expansions. The latest chapter in this development is CyrusOne's notable growth, which takes another step forward as the Aurora City Council approves a $16 million reimbursement agreement pivotal for the company's expansion plans. According to the Chicago Tribune, this financial pact comes after rigorous negotiations between the city and CyrusOne concerning a second campus the data center giant intends to erect on Aurora's far East Side.
As part of the proposed architectural composition, CyrusOne eyes the construction of two 350-foot towers and additional buildings spanning hundreds of thousands of square feet, intended primarily to house data servers. A more minute footprint dedicated to an office space fronting the main building. With past projections aiming towards a commercial and potential hotel development before CyrusOne's plans emerged, the city had allocated significant funds back in 2008 towards infrastructure improvements to encourage economic development inclusive of a new Eola Road interchange to I-88, as detailed by Aurora's chief management officer Alex Alexandrou in a statement obtained by Chicago Tribune.
Further adding to Aurora's data-centric surge, a previous report by Chicago Business highlights the significant sum of $700 million earmarked for investment into the expansion of CyrusOne's facilities. This investment includes the acquisition of two sprawling data centers from CME Group and plans for adding yet another facility of comparable size.
The expansion is an unequivocal response to burgeoning demand in the data center market, with Aurora strategically poised to accommodate this growing need. CyrusOne, with an inventory of data centers sprawled across the country, forges ahead in competitive strides against others like Digital Realty, as reported by Chicago Business. Offering perspective on the scale, Brent Neumann, CyrusOne's data center operations manager, indicated the company's Diehl Road campus boasts 184 megawatts of 'raw power,' a key asset also factoring in the company's expansion plans.
On the economic front, the city anticipates significant inflows from property and utility taxes, bolstering Aurora's financial reservoir. Ald. Carl Franco, chairman of the City Council Finance Committee, reflected on the development stating that the city is poised to recover its expenditures, plus inflation. The specifics of the utilization of the inbound funds remain to be determined. Meanwhile, CyrusOne's trajectory in Aurora symbolizes a city on the upswing in the data center industry, ensuring a steady stream of construction jobs and a healthier tax base, minus the cloud tax implications experienced in neighboring Chicago, as Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin alluded to in a Chicago Business interview.
