Big data center project nears construction in Chaska

After years of planning, a major data center project appears to be on the cusp of construction in Chaska.

CloudHQ will go before the Chaska Planning Commission on Wednesday with plans to build the 1.4-million-square-foot facility on a 70-acre site north of Engler Boulevard and west of Clover Ridge Drive. The commission will consider CloudHQ’s requests for preliminary site and building plan, preliminary plat, zoning ordinance amendment and conditional use permit approvals.

The project has been in the works since at least 2022, when CloudHQ received concept plan approval from the city, an initial step toward construction, said Liz Hanson, Chaska city planner. A year ago, the city granted a conditional use permit to allow construction of a 30-foot berm along the north and east edges of the development site, a project requirement.

“Up until now, the project team has not pursued berm construction,” according to a staff report for Wednesday’s planning commission meeting. But Hanson said Monday that, “at this time, they're telling us that they are ready to move forward on the project. They have, I think, a tentative user that's giving them that push to move forward. That is where they're at right now.”

No additional details were revealed about the tentative user.

Next steps include city council review on Oct. 21, Hanson said.

Finance & Commerce reported in 2022 that the CloudHQ project could bring 75 to 100 new permanent jobs to the city, along with 1,000 construction jobs. As previously reported, the data center will use about 300 kilowatts of energy and bring additional revenue to the city, which acts as its own electric utility.

A project narrative reveals that the “design of this data center building and the surrounding landscape are intended to help the building nestle into the site and conceal itself from neighboring views. The height and character of this building will be similar in nature to the recently constructed nearby data centers in the West Creek Corporate center area.”

According to the staff report:

• The building would have two stories with 715,000 square feet of space on each floor. Additional plans include a penthouse and “architectural screen wall” on top of the second story to house generators and mechanical equipment.



• Proposed building materials include “insulated precast concrete panels with aluminum-embedded icicle accents, glass and architectural paneled steel louver screen wall systems.”



• Building plans also reveal “vine walls to help provide a ‘softer’ edge to the concrete panels. These will be done through a system of cables that drape the sides. The front of the building is oriented on the north facade toward the main parking lot, where the administrative space will be accessed.”

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