Compass Datacenters has signed a contract to purchase the 273-acre Sears corporate headquarters site in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. This will be Compass’ first location in the Chicago area and their 16th data center worldwide. Crain’s Chicago Business reported that while an exact price was not available, the 2.4 million square foot property had an assessed campus value of $50 million in 2021 (down from $150 million in 2013).
Sears declared bankruptcy back 2018 and at one point employed more than 4,000 people onsite before being acquired by Transformco last year. In June 2021 Brookfield and investor Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan purchased Compass for an estimated $5.5 billion dollars making this acquisition their first since then.