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Sean Farney, VP of data center strategy at JLL, told RCR Tech that former industrial facilities are increasingly being repurposed into data centers as operators respond to rising AI-driven demand and power constraints
In sum – what to know:
Industrial sites repurposed – Former paper mills, steel plants and manufacturing facilities are increasingly being converted into data centers, particularly across the U.S. Rust Belt.
Power driving site selection – Existing power infrastructure and faster time-to-market are making adaptive reuse projects more attractive for AI-driven data center demand.
Sustainability advantage grows – Repurposing existing buildings can reduce embodied carbon by reusing structural steel and concrete from previous industrial developments.
The rapid growth of AI infrastructure is driving renewed interest in adaptive reuse projects as data center developers seek faster deployment timelines, existing power infrastructure, and more sustainable construction strategies.
According to Sean Farney, VP of data center strategy at JLL, former industrial facilities are increasingly being repurposed into data centers as operators respond to rising AI-driven demand and power constraints.
“The very first data centers built around telecommunications hubs (called NAPs and MAEs) in the early-2000s were all adaptive reuse projects,” Farney told RCR Tech.
Farney cited facilities including 350 E. Cermak in Chicago, 1 Wilshire in Los Angeles, 111 8th Street in New York, 400 S. Ackard in Dallas and 529 Bryant in Palo Alto as early examples of buildings converted into data centers.
“These buildings were repurposed as data centers because we had never constructed a data center before and figured buildings with ‘good bones’ to support the weight of thousands of servers would work well,” he said.
More than two decades later, Farney said the industry is once again turning toward adaptive reuse projects, though this time for different reasons.
“Fast forward 20+ years to today where power is constrained and time-to-market has become the key industry driver thanks to Wall Street’s close eye on the numbers, adaptive reuse has a resurging value proposition,” the JLL executive said.
According to Farney, the trend is particularly visible across former industrial regions in the United States. “All across the country, we are seeing former industrial assets – paper mills, steel plants and manufacturing sites – with a strong concentration in the Great Lakes Rust Belt – being converted to data center use,” he said.
The growing focus on adaptive reuse reflects broader changes in data center site selection criteria as AI infrastructure requirements reshape the market. Farney said access to power infrastructure has become more important than traditional geographic considerations.
“These sites generally have good onsite and feeder power infrastructure, so a retrofit of the internal power distribution is required,” he explained.
The shift toward AI workloads is also changing cooling requirements inside converted facilities.
“We need to bring in liquid cooling for dense AI workloads, but can usually leverage the present robust chiller plant, and may need to augment fiber connectivity,” Farney said.
He added that location itself has become less critical than in previous years.
“As availability of power has replaced the traditional site selection criteria in the last few years, location is not nearly as important of a factor,” the JLL executive said.
Beyond deployment speed and power access, Farney emphasized the sustainability benefits associated with adaptive reuse strategies.
“It’s no comparison at all – adaptive reuse is the best form of recycling, repurposing all of the embodied carbon that was allocated with the initial build,” he said.
Farney specifically highlighted the reuse of structural steel and concrete, which he described as “two of the largest carbon consumers in build projects.”
While adaptive reuse has often been viewed as a niche strategy within the broader data center market, Farney suggested the concept is returning to prominence as operators look for ways to accelerate deployments while improving sustainability metrics.
According to Farney, the trend is currently most visible in parts of the U.S. Midwest and Great Lakes region. “We’re helping clients find these sites in MN, WI, IL, IN and OH in particular,” he said.
