Starbucks Data Center, Seattle, Washington

The owners of the Starbucks Center, the Sodo building that houses Starbucks' headquarters at 2401 Utah Avenue South in Seattle, have filed a conceptual site plan for a small data center in the building's empty ground-floor space. Colossus Data Center Advisors filed the plans in June 2026 for a roughly 20-megawatt data center sized just under the limit of the city's new data center moratorium; Starbucks itself is not the developer.

The proposal would fill a former Amazon Fresh pickup site, empty since January 2024, using about 45,600 square feet in the building; it would not overlap the space Starbucks leases, which runs through 2038. Developer Kevin Daniels of building owner Nitze-Stagen said the filing was meant to test feasibility and that there is no tenant yet: "I actually resisted it, but one of my partners was aware of the fervor of the (data center) market and started to educate me on the issue."

The filing came days after the Seattle City Council voted unanimously on June 9, 2026, for an emergency one-year moratorium on new data centers over 20 megavolt-amperes of power capacity, which can be extended six months. "Large AI data centers are popping up across the country, driving up utility costs for residents and small businesses while creating air, water, and noise pollution," said Councilmember Eddie Lin, the moratorium's prime sponsor.

The moratorium followed a spring rush: in April, four companies approached Seattle City Light about five large data centers needing a combined 369 megawatts, roughly a third of what the city uses on an average day. After an outcry, one company canceled its plan and Sabey withdrew a 68-megawatt request at its Tukwila campus, leaving Equinix and Prologis with three proposals, two of them in Sodo.

Because the Starbucks Center plan sits under the 20-megavolt-ampere threshold, the moratorium would not stop it on its own; it still needs the city's permits and power from Seattle City Light. The owners have not said whether they will pursue it, and Mayor Katie Wilson said she would sign the moratorium and work on "a long-term approach to these issues."