Sears demolition continues even as Hoffman Estates site begins prep for Compass Datacenters
Though about a year remains to fully demolish Sears’ former 2.4 million-square-foot headquarters in Hoffman Estates, grading of some areas cleared since summertime has just begun to level the site for construction of five massive data centers — each more than a quarter-million square feet.
The project represents a $10 billion investment by Dallas-based Compass Datacenters to build the facility for what likely will be a single, as-yet unnamed client and provide the electricity it will require.
“Everything is going according to plan at the site,” said Katy Hancock, vice president of public relations for Compass. “The village recently approved the mass grading permit. We appreciate the village of Hoffman Estates planning team and are grateful for their time and support.”
Though bringing one of the 21st century’s strongest industries to the site is Compass’ goal, the removal of the 20th century retail giant’s presence is a roughly 18-month task that began with interior preparation of the buildings last spring.
Having been one of the 30 largest structures in the world in terms of square footage, the Sears headquarters was significantly ahead of even the more vertical John Hancock and Empire State buildings, according to Jeff Olson, project executive for Carol Stream-based American Demolition.
The campus served as the company’s headquarters between the move from Chicago’s Sears Tower in the early 1990s until the company put the sprawling 273 acres up for sale in 2021.
At its peak, the campus was home to about 9,000 employees. But the firm’s 2018 filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy was a major turning point in its long, largely successful history.
But after the last of the workers were sent home due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, none ever returned.
Hoffman Estates Mayor Bill McLeod said the family photos and boxes of cookies still on people’s desks when Compass bought the property last year made it seem like the Sears employees had just been vaporized in an instant.
Compass officials said American Demolition was selected for the removal project specifically for its proven ability to minimize waste and maximize reuse of materials.
Dominick DiSilvio, American Demolition’s vice president of estimating, said last spring about 95% of the structure would be recycled — keeping 400 million pounds of debris out of landfills.
With above-ground construction of the data centers expected to begin around late 2025, Chicago-based Power Construction recently was contracted for that phase due to what Compass officials describe as its proven track record of putting safety first and working collaboratively with its customers for timely delivery of projects.
During a kickoff event at the site in June, Compass CEO Chris Crosby addressed the legacy of Sears but said his own company’s goal is to far exceed the retailer’s longevity in Hoffman Estates. The modular design of the data centers will make them easy to update, with a century of service being not out of the question.
“One of our core concepts at Compass is that this will be a place to last,” Crosby said. “The economic effect of this is pretty massive.”