In the midst of a local and nationwide outcry about data center development, downtown Seattle could soon be home to a new data center.
A Texas real estate firm filed permit applications with the city last week proposing a six-story building including a data center, office and retail space at Third Avenue and Virginia Street. The location once housed a Bed Bath & Beyond store and since last year has been home to the contemporary arts center Cannonball Arts.
Permit documents spell out plans for a “research and development lab” with “business support service use for co-location data center” with construction starting in 2027 “or when market conditions are suitable.”
The company behind the project, Digital Realty, said in a statement the site won’t be an “AI data center,” but “a highly connected, network-dense facility.” The Puget Sound Business Journal first reported the plans. Digital Realty said it was still studying the project’s expected energy use.
Still, given its timing, the proposal will test the city’s appetite for data centers, an arm of the tech industry that is already rooted in Seattle but faces skepticism amid a global boom in artificial intelligence.
Seattle is already home to 30 data centers, most of them relatively small.
Amid concerns about AI energy use, the Seattle City Council's Land Use and Sustainability Committee voted Wednesday to advance a one-year ban on large-scale data centers while City Hall studies more permanent regulations. The city received more than 54,000 messages of “intense public alarm” about potential data centers, according to the mayor’s office.
It's unclear if the city’s proposed moratorium would affect this proposal. Digital Realty said it would continue to engage constructively with the City Council as well as the community.
Earlier this year, four companies approached Seattle City Light about building five large data centers in the city. Two of those companies later withdrew their plans and the City Council began discussions of a moratorium.
Digital Realty’s proposal, for now named Block 50, would cover roughly 380,000 square feet, including 38 underground parking spots.
The project would demolish the existing building at 301 Virginia St. The landmarked Securities Building on the same block would remain, according to permit filings.
Property owner Clise Properties did not immediately respond to a request for comment but told the Business Journal that Digital Realty was “independently conducting due diligence to fully understand the site's viability” at the start of what could be a “very long process.”
Among its more than 300 data centers worldwide, Digital Realty already operates another in Seattle: the 34-story, 400,000-square-foot data center in the Westin Building at Sixth Avenue and Virginia Street.
This report includes material from The Seattle Times archives.
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