Data centers in Kane County, Illinois: 1 project mapped

Imagery: Esri, Maxar

Kane County's newest data center proposal is on a farm outside South Elgin. White Rose Partners, a Dallas developer that says it has sited more than 20 data centers, filed a concept plan in July 2026 for Project Kilo, a 200,000-square-foot data center on nine acres of a 20-acre site at 33W304 Kenyon Road, at Kenyon Road and Illinois Route 25 in unincorporated Elgin Township. The land would have to be annexed into South Elgin, and it belongs to Mike Kenyon, 81, a dairy farmer who represented the area on the Kane County Board for 18 years. "It's an ideal place," he said. "No houses, a Prairie Path with row of trees ... as long as village makes them pay for what they use."

White Rose has asked ComEd for 48 megawatts of power. The developer says Project Kilo would pay more than $1 million a year in property taxes, use closed-loop cooling with a one-time fill of less than half an Olympic pool, and pay for all grid upgrades. A Change.org petition against it passed 8,300 signatures by late July, urging officials "to prioritize the needs and wishes of the South Elgin residents over corporate interests." The village postponed its first planning session because it clashed with a summer concert, and the Planning and Zoning Commission's review of the concept plan was later moved off its August 19 date to one not yet set.

Aurora, the county's largest city, has already written rules other towns are watching. It put a 180-day moratorium on new data centers and warehouses in September 2025 and, on March 24, 2026, adopted what CBS Chicago called the strictest data center regulations in the state: lower sound limits, required sound and resource-use studies, and generators at least 1,500 feet from homes. Neighbors of a CyrusOne data center near Interstate 88 still told the council of a constant hum. "I can hear the chiller fans in my yard, I hear it in the shower, I hear it all the time, it never goes away," said Laura Evans. South Elgin's Planning and Zoning Commission has not yet set a new date to take up Project Kilo's concept plan.

Every project above is drawn from public records, filings and local reporting. Each row links to what it is based on. Statuses change, so check the source date before you rely on one. Found something wrong? Write to [email protected] and it gets fixed.