CloudHQ is getting ready to push dirt — a whole lot of it — in preparation for a data center project in Chaska.
The 1.5 million-square-foot project requires installation of a 30-foot berm along the north and east edges of the 72-acre development site at 2007 Schoolmaster Drive, according to a city staff report. Washington, D.C.-based CloudHQ has applied for a conditional use permit to construct the north portion of the berm, which would bring in up to 350,000 cubic yards of soil.
“They have connections to construction sites that are getting rid of a bunch of dirt, so they are trying to take advantage of that,” said Liz Hanson, Chaska city planner.
The city requires a conditional use permit for any land excavation filling in more than 2,000 cubic yards of material. CloudHQ’s request for a conditional use permit for the berm construction is up for approval at Wednesday’s Planning Commission meeting. At present, the CloudHQ site consists of farmland and a single-family house.
Preliminary and final approvals for the data center will be the subject of future applications. Hanson said CloudHQ hasn’t informed the city when it plans to begin vertical construction.
“I think they are still trying to finalize details of an end user,” Hanson said. “They are still serious about the site. This [conditional use permit application] is an indication of that. There is a lot of interest there and seriousness in building the 1.5 million-square-foot data center, but this is just what they are working toward in the interim.”
Finance & Commerce reported in 2022 that CloudHQ’s data center would employ 75 to 100 people and create about 1,000 construction jobs.
“On top of that, … this facility is going to be a very high-value facility. And so you look at the property tax revenue opportunities that creates, that’s a positive,” said Nate Kabat, Chaska’s community development director, said in August 2022.
RELATED: Chaska capitalizes on data centers
Credit: Source link