© McShane Fleming Studio, Matt Dula
J.T. Magen builds Downtown Chicago’s first ground-up data center for CoreSite
The large mission critical facility hosts 1.4 million pounds of operations equipment.
J.T. Magen & Company Inc. recently completed a ground-up data center for CoreSite Realty Corporation in Chicago’s South Loop business district. Built on a zero-lot-line site covering 1.54 acres, the CH2 facility is the first-ever ground-up data center built in the city.
The 196,000 sq. ft. colocation facility located on a brownfield site was specifically designed by Corgan for the massive structural weight-bearing needs of large data center equipment. It required extensive deep foundations and structural slabs.
The heavy equipment and parking garage are in the concrete cast-in-place portion of the building; underneath is the storm retention system, underground fuel oil tanks for the generators, and a ComEd electrical substation built to their specifications. The larger four-story structural steel and metal portion of the building hosts the customer colocation cabinets, tech lounge, conference rooms, offices, kitchen, electrical switch gear and UPS.
© McShane Fleming Studio, Matt Dula
Interiors showcase high-tech capabilities and systems redundancy.
The team installed more than 1.4 million lbs. of equipment on site to support the 24 MW building design load. They also constructed two elevators and connected CH2 to CoreSite’s CH1 data center via redundant high-count dark fiber.
Inside the facility, there are soaring spaces and lighting effects that add to the high-tech image of the property and the customer experience. Designed with excess capacity, J.T. Magen will fit out the remainder of the space according to client demand.
© McShane Fleming Studio, Matt Dula
We designed CH2 to offer a new choice in downtown Chicago for high-density, easy interconnection access for customers requiring high performance and low latency with the extensive connectivity options of a multi-cloud and carrier system.
-Brian Warren, CoreSite senior vice president of development and product engineering, in a company press release
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Project Facts
CoreSite CH2 Data Center
Address: 1432 South Clinton Street, Chicago, IL
Size: 196,000 sq. ft.
Architect: Corgan
Structural engineer: AG&E Structural Engenuity
Civil engineer: Eriksson Engineering Associates
MEPS engineer: kW Mission Critical
Redundancy:
UPS: N+1
PDU: 2N
Chillers and chilled water pumps: N+1
CRAHs: N+2
Building design load: 24 MW
Wind sustainability: 75 MPH
What this job required:
- 219 caissons drilled an average of 55 feet deep
- 1,300 tons of rebar for caissons and foundations
- 12,800 cubic yards of concrete for caissons and foundations
- 50,000 pounds of post tension cables
- 1,950+ tons of structural steel
- 72+ miles of electrical wire/cable
- Nearly 1.4 million pounds of equipment
- Four 80,000 lb. generators
- Three 140,000 lb. chiller enclosures
- One 90,000 lb. switch gear line
- Five 50,000 lb. switch gear lines
- Three 50,000 lb. cooling towers
- Twelve 9,000 lb. PDU’s
