Data center proposed on part of Itasca Country Club

Owners of the Itasca Country Club are seeking to use part of the golf course to build a two-story data center.

Under the proposal, the golf course would be "reduced, not eliminated," Itasca Village Manager Carie Anne Ergo said.

The Itasca Country Club submitted an application Aug. 14 for a proposed planned unit development to convert about 34 acres on the northeast portion of the golf course - about one-quarter of the club's property - to build a data center.

Maps show the site would occupy about four holes of the golf course. It was unclear how the golf course would operate.

"They will have an opportunity to fully explain their plans" at a future meeting of the village plan commission, which has not been scheduled, Ergo said.

The building would have a parking lot with about 60 spaces with access from Prospect Avenue, according to documents submitted by Larry Swets, president of Itasca Golf Real Estate Holdings.

The developers say the data center would generate $708,000 to $1.41 million in annual property taxes. It would create 1,000 construction jobs and 96 to 132 jobs at the data center once the building is finished, according to the documents.

The club was founded in Itasca in 1925 and bought in 2014 by Itasca Golf Investors LLC amid concerns about the property's future. Residents at that time were seeking village and DuPage County Forest Preserve District backing for preserving the site as open space.

Under the new proposal, "everything to the south and east of Spring Brook Creek that crosses from north to south would be preserved as open space," Ergo said.

The new owners renovated the member's dining room and made it a public restaurant, the Fox & Turtle. The building would not be affected, according to the proposal.