According to a recent announcement, Indiana NAP, a newly-launched venture advancing a high-power, high-efficiency data center project, will develop a renewable energy campus on the site of the former State Line Generating Facility, which closed in 2012. Situated just outside of Chicago along Lake Michigan, the Digital Crossroads Data Center reportedly will serve a growing demand for businesses and content providers to lease storage space. The project also includes plans for a 10,000-square-foot tech incubator, a greenhouse to serve Purdue University (News - Alert) Northwest that will be heated by the servers, as well as enhanced public spaces with access to the lakefront property.
The company, which chose to locate the data center in northwest Indiana over Illinois, will initially invest approximately $40 million to construct a 105,000-square-foot facility on approximately 12 acres of the 77-acre site during the first phase to include a data center and shared-space tech incubator. The project has the potential to grow into a $200 million investment across three buildings and 400,000 square feet of revitalized property in Hammond.
The Indiana Economic Development Corporation is supporting the project through the Industrial Recovery Tax Credit (DINO) program, which provides an incentive to invest in former industrial sites and improve quality of place in Indiana communities.