This week: Chicago leaders weigh new measure to lure Big Tech to city

CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — This Wednesday, the Chicago City Council Committee on Economic, Capital and Technology Development is scheduled to vote on a proposal to encourage Big Tech companies to bring more data centers — and their economic benefits — to Chicago.

Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th), whose district includes parts of Humboldt Park, Belmont Cragin and Montclare, chairs the committee. Villegas told WBBM he wants companies that store Chicago’s data to have data centers in the United States, with extra credits for putting them in Chicago or Illinois.

“What we’re doing is trying to encourage development of these data centers within the state of Illinois, but preferably within the city of Chicago, so we can do two things: We can help develop blighted areas or areas that have swaths of land that have gone undeveloped for a long time, and then bringing those data centers … onto the tax roll, so we can create new revenue,” he said.

Villegas said Chicago spends hundreds of millions of dollars on information technology and data contractors, most of which store information outside the city. His ordinance would use incentives to get them to build or open data centers in the city.

“Take a look at the South and West Sides, where there’s thousands of empty lots,” he said. “We’re trying to get some economic activity [and] property back on the tax roll, so that way we’re not having to pull the levers that we’ve traditionally had to pull in order to create revenue, which are property taxes, increasing fines, increasing fees and TIFs use,” he said.

Craig Huffman is the CEO of Metro Edge, the only Black-owned data center development company in the city. Huffman said he’s ready with a potential site in the Medical District.

“What goes into a data center is a lot of equipment, very expensive equipment, that’s used to transmit data,” he said. “I compare it to an airport. The runway allows airplanes to take off; it allows airplanes to land. When you think of it that way, the building really houses the connectivity.”

Huffman said there would be construction and maintenance jobs, and he believes more companies will want in as well.

Backers say each data center could generate some $13 million per year.

The focus of this weekend’s “At Issue” program is on data centers and Chicago. Listen to the program every Sunday at 9:30 a.m. and 9:30 p.m.

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