Mount Prospect green-lights $2.5 billion tech campus on United property

A $2.5 billion technology campus on the former United Airlines headquarters site in Mount Prospect cleared the final hurdle Tuesday.

Mount Prospect village board members handed final approval to CloudHQ, which plans to develop data centers at 1200 E. Algonquin Road and a ComEd substation to serve the property at 1200 Dempster Street.

Mount Prospect Community Development Director Bill Cooney told the board at Tuesday's meeting that demolition is already underway on the site, which was annexed to the village in 2017.

The new data center is expected to act as a major economic engine on the village's south end.

Mayor Paul Hoefert called the development "huge" for the village and a "game-changer."

Cooney outlined the magnitude of the project.

"To put it quickly in perspective, the redevelopment of Randhurst was $100 million, so this is 25 times the investment," Cooney said.

He said that when the property is fully developed, the estimated equalized assessed value will be $100 million - or about 5% of the village's total.

That means it will lighten the burden of Mount Prospect taxpayers.

Also, the project will generate more than $1 million annually in electric utility taxes for the village's general operations.

The project is expected to create about 1,000 construction jobs each year over the next six years and approximately 450 full-time jobs once the tech campus is completed six years from now.

CloudHQ bought the property with the intention to develop the 60-acre site with three 84-megawatt data centers on the former United Airlines campus at 1200 E. Algonquin Road. Two of the data centers will contain more than 31,000 square feet of office space, while the third would offer about 26,000 square feet of office space.

The ComEd substation will be built on the existing parking lot at 1200 Dempster St.