Remember the stories about abandoned shopping malls being repurposed as data centers? One of those projects was from Lifeline Data Centers, which purchased a 41-acre campus in Indianapolis that was once home to the Eastgate mall. That space is now thriving again in its new life as a data center. Due to demand, a second phase of construction is underway that will add 40,000 square feet to the initial 50,000 square feet, which has been filled by Lifeline in the three years since it first opened.
Eastgate was a 370,000 square foot shopping center built in 1957 that fell into decline around 2000 and was closed in 2004 when the owner couldn’t pay back taxes. The site fell into disrepair and at one point appeared likely to be demolished. Lifeline Data Centers then announced it would repurpose the former Eastgate Consumer Mall into a 450,000 square foot data center, as well as refit the remaining mall space as customized office space for data center clients, IT staff and employees. When the initial plans were laid, Indianapolis’ Mayor lauded Lifeline for bringing in high tech jobs to the area and adding to the tax base of the Warren Township area.
All indications are that the project has been and continues to be a success. "We build highly reliable data centers, and companies are buying nearly as fast as we can build them," said Rich Banta, co-owner of Lifeline. The second phase adds 40,000 square feet of data center space to the existing 50,000, bringing Lifeline Data Centers’ total data center footprint to 120,000 counting its Henry Street facility.
"Lifeline is expanding because of the continued, sustained growth in demand for data center facilities in the Midwest," saidAlex Carroll, co-owner of Lifeline Data Centers. As for the repurposed office space, Lifeline has leased or committed to 183,000 square feet of secure office space and has another 155,000 square feet available. Not too shabby for what was once an abandoned mall.
The company serves clients in healthcare, software, utilities, life sciences, cloud computing, government. Eastgate is a green campus environment, using hydrogen-assisted diesel generators, reflective roof technologies, and the company returned old parking lots to green space. Lifeline builds all hardened data center facilities to the Uptime Institute Hybrid Tier IV and TIA-942 specifications. There are no single points of failure for power, cooling, or data connectivity.
