Chicago’s 12-Story 300 West Adams Office Tower Tapped for Data Center Conversion

A historic office building in Chicago, Illinois, is being positioned for a major data center redevelopment, marking another step in the city’s rapid evolution as a key U.S. digital infrastructure hub.

Local media reports, including ABC Chicago, indicate that the Permit Review Committee of the Commission on Chicago Landmarks has granted initial approval for a proposal to convert a portion of the 300 West Adams Building, located at 300 West Adams Street, into a data center. The full commission is now set to review the plan, which would give new life to a property that has stood for more than five decades.

According to project filings, the developer behind the effort plans to transform part of the 12-story structure into a data center. The scope of work includes constructing a new ComEd utility vault on the first floor, installing data center equipment and support infrastructure on floors two through six, and adding backup generators on the rooftop. The proposal reflects a growing trend of repurposing underutilized urban office assets for high-density digital use.

The 300 West Adams Building, originally completed around 1972, encompasses approximately 240,000 square feet (22,296 square meters) across its 12 stories. The property was designated a Chicago Landmark in 2009, with the city government praising its “handsome design and excellent craftsmanship,” adding that it “epitomizes the high-rise office building boom of the 1920s and stands today as a significant example of this historic building type.”

Adams RE MGMT LLC is listed as the building’s owner in the application filings, with local real estate developer Igor Gabal leading the redevelopment effort. Gabal acquired the property in 2023 for just $4 million, a steep discount from its $51 million sale price in 2012. The building had previously been seized in 2021 from a venture of Pennsylvania-based Alliance HP through a foreclosure agreement and was sold by an entity managed by Morgan Stanley.

Industry publication The Real Deal and other outlets have reported that Strategic Value Partners recently signed a deal to partner with Gabal on the conversion of 300 West Adams, adding financial heft to the project.

The move underscores Chicago’s position as one of the premier data center markets in the United States, driven by strong connectivity, access to power, and a deep pool of commercial real estate ripe for adaptive reuse. GI Partners and Legacy Investing are currently pursuing a similar project in the city, converting a former stock exchange building into a data center. As demand for cloud services and artificial intelligence workloads continues to surge, conversions of legacy office towers are likely to become an increasingly important component of the data center supply pipeline in dense urban environments.