Stickney officials say they oppose construction of a data center at the site of the now-closed Hawthorne Race Course, which closed down last month after 135 years of horse racing.
On Thursday, the village’s board of trustees voted unanimously to block any data center proposals. The moratorium states the village won’t accept changes of zoning or any approvals that would allow a data center.
“If a data center project for Hawthorne Race Course lands before the board of trustees, I will vote no,” Mayor Mitch Milenkovic, said in a statement. He cited the enormous demand for water and power at the plants and concerns about noise and other nuisances.
Stickney isn’t alone in opposing the large-scale computing centers, which are popping up across the country to support artificial intelligence applications. Mayor Brandon Johnson has asked the City Council to pass a moratorium on such facilities.
Hawthorne, the oldest horse racing venue in Illinois, is being acquired after filing for bankruptcy protection.
A buyer known only as Allimac 2023 LLC agreed to pay $90 million for the property at 3501 S. Laramie Ave. in Stickney, which borders Cicero. The owner has not publicly identified itself or said what it will do with the land.
Data center developer Digital Realty is the company behind Allimac, according to commercial real estate publication The Real Deal. The publication cited multiple people familiar with the transaction.
Digital Realty developed nine Chicago-area data centers, mostly around O’Hare Airport, according to the company’s website.
Representatives of Digital Realty didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Rumors of a data center replacing Hawthorne, which sits on more than 100 acres near the Cicero town line, popped up late last month. Cicero trustees passed a resolution opposing any such development in neighboring Stickney.
“The noise from the round-the-clock operation of cooling systems, backup generators, and industrial-scale equipment would diminish the quality of life for Stickney residents and the residential areas of Cicero that surround the Hawthorne site,” Milenkovic said.
The last races at Hawthorne were July 19. The racetrack’s owner filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February.
The sale is expected to close Sept. 1.