The Aurora City Council Tuesday night approved a development deal with Cyrus One worth almost $16 million to the city.
Aldermen approved the deal that comes after negotiations between the two entities over a second campus Cyrus One intends to build on the far East Side of the city. The actual amount would be a little over $15.5 million.
Cyrus One is a major, national data center with a facility at Eola and Diehl roads. The company intends to build another campus – with two new, 350-foot-high towers, a 411,000-square-foot building and another, 150,000-square-foot building – just to the north, along one side of the entrance from Bilter Road to Interstate 88.
In a separate announcement made this week, CME Group and Google announced they will be part of building a center for financial trading systems in the new Cyrus One facility.
It will be rented to CME customers, across Diehl Road from CME’s data hub, which is in the currently operating Cyrus One facility.
The City Council has already approved the preliminary plans and a zoning change for the property on which the new campus for Cyrus One will be built.
The new campus is being built on property the city once intended for a different kind of economic development – commercial and possibly hotel uses.
That was the thought in 2008 when the city spent money to help get what is called the Eola Road interchange to I-88, even though it does not actually go directly to Eola Road. Eastbound I-88 exits onto Diehl Road, and westbound I-88 exits onto Bilter Road.
That westbound access bisects part of the Butterfield development, with 60 acres to the east and 30 acres to the west. Endeavour Edge is building a large data center campus on the 60 acres, and Cyrus One would build on the 30 acres to the west.
The city spent about $8 million on the interchange in 2008, which in today’s money is more than $13 million, city officials said. The city spent another $787,500 in soft costs in 2008, which in today’s dollars is about $1.23 million.
slord@tribpub.com