Robbins Mayor Darren Bryant seeks to attract data center at dormant trash incinerator site (original) (raw)
Robbins Mayor Darren Bryant said he supports construction of a data center at the site of the dormant trash incinerator at 13400 Kedzie Ave. The waste-to-energy plant operated for about three years as an incinerator converting garbage into power, shutting in September 2000.
Bryant said he is excited about the tax revenue a data center could bring, especially at a site that’s been dormant for so long.
The mayor said he has been in “very mild” discussions with property owner Paul Duggan and potential brokers since February. These discussions include possible revenue sharing between the data company and village along with tax incentives.
“You mention data center and the first thing is a negative connotation to it, but we’re open to navigate all the problems and the challenges that may arise,” Bryant said.
“There’s a lot of things that I just don’t know at this moment, but I wanted to let everybody know that Robbins is entertaining it for sure,” he said.
Data center conversations first began in February after property owner Paul Duggan attended a closed session village meeting to introduce the idea, and the board and mayor expressed interest and agreed to begin a discovery period, said Bryant.
The agenda for the Feb. 10 meeting included a closed session indicating the topic of whether the village should purchase or lease property. No action was taken after the closed session, according to minutes of the meeting.
Duggan ran a few advertisements for the idea in April, and interested brokers reached out, said Bryant. Duggan also spoke with legislators and utility companies.
Bryant said plans could include a 16.5 acre data center built vertically, but discussions are still in the discovery stage, and the project requires the village to approve a zoning change.
The biggest barrier, he said, will be figuring out how to power the site.
Duggan, the property owner, said Commonwealth Edison officials told him it would be five to seven years before the utility could possibly deliver power to the site. ComEd also required Duggan to pay a $5 million downpayment as part of new requirements by the Illinois Commerce Commission.
“That’s crazy,” said Duggan. “Can you imagine if you had a newborn baby waiting seven years for anything to happen? That’s really what I’m talking about. I don’t want to wait.”
These requirements, proposed by ComEd and approved in March, aim to protect ratepayers against multimillion-dollar projects that don’t come to full fruition. Under the provisions, Duggan could get most of that deposit money back within 10 years if the project gets built and operates at the projected demand.
ComEd officials have said that part of the wait time is that the utility has received an unprecedented surge in large service requests since 2019. As of March, the company had 100 large load projects in the developmental pipeline, most of which were for data centers, according to an official at the time.
Duggan also said he has had trouble proposing gas as a solution to power the site due to the state’s plan to retire 28 gigawatts of coal- and natural gas generating capacity by 2045 to improve air quality.
But he said he found some alternate solutions and has had productive conversations with Nicor gas.
He said the incinerator already has natural gas lines that could be used by a generator developed by Mainspring energy, which he said could still meet emission standards. Duggan said he is working with Frank O’Donnell, who works at Mainspring and who suggested the idea of a data center, to move forward with a generator. Duggan said they have not signed a contract.
Bryant said he is not concerned about water supply for a data center.
He said the center could use one of the village’s two water towers, as he said the village has operated using only one for the past 30 years. The towers would operate separately, he said. He also said the village is undergoing a $4 million project to refurbish one of the water towers.
The two water towers in Robbins. Mayor Darren Bryant said he is open to using one water tower for a possible data center development. (Addison Wright/Daily Southtown)
Bryant also said, compared to the mega data center in Joliet which drew public controversy, this center would be much smaller, another reason he said he supports the project. The type and usage of the data center has yet to be decided, he said.
Bryant also said he would like to know more about potential noise pollution and said he is concerned about the lack of jobs the site would create.
He said the development falls under his campaign to bring development into the village.
“Robbins was labeled the poorest community in America and then in just the last three years you’re seeing development after development and this now is the new conversation to add onto it,” said village spokesperson Sean Howard.
“We’ve been open to all conversations, which is why Robbins has seen an economic boom,” said Howard
Duggan said he honestly remains “agnostic” about who or what develops the site, as it was not his intention to own the site.
Duggan became the owner of the property in 2023 after he gave the previous owner a loan and that owner foreclosed on the property, according to a special warranty deed for the property on the Cook County property tax website.
The previous owner said in 2021 he intended to convert the incinerator into an anaerobic digestion plant, which would convert expired and recalled food into sellable products such as renewable natural gas and fertilizer, but that project failed to materialize.
“I’m trying to find the highest and best use for the property to recover my loan proceeds,” Duggan said.
According to property tax documents on the Cook County treasurer’s website, property taxes for the 2024 and 2025 year have not been paid, amounting to 265,012inpropertytaxdebtconnectedtothesite.In20years,thesite’spropertytaxeshaveincreasedbyabout265,012 in property tax debt connected to the site. In 20 years, the site’s property taxes have increased by about 265,012inpropertytaxdebtconnectedtothesite.In20years,thesite’spropertytaxeshaveincreasedbyabout58,000.
Bryant said his role is to provide policy, legislative and marketing support. He said he met with Duggans and brokers about the potential data center project Tuesday.
Duggans said the next step is to find a developer for the site, after which the zoning change process and other necessary steps would follow.