The developers of the 1,034 acre, 14 warehouse, Project Cardinal data center campus in Yorkville, have asked the city for an extension in acquiring the titles for the subject property, citing “unforeseen circumstances.”

The original deadline for the developer to acquire all parcels of the project to keep all the city’s agreements activated is July 1.

The developers have requested the City Council approve an extension to Dec. 31, 2027. This city is hosting a public hearing for the annexation agreement amendment during the June 9 City Council meeting.

If the city approves the extension, the developer, Matt McCarron and Pioneer Development, LLC, would have additional time to acquire all the parcels necessary for the project.

However, if the developer cannot meet that extension date, then the annexation agreement green-lighting the whole project would become “null and void if such notice was not received,” according to city documents.

This would put the entire project at risk of ever being built.

When reached for comment, City Administrator Bart Olson said the developers have not told the city which parcels they have yet to acquire or why they are having difficulty.

“Their application simply requests the extension and they’ve consented to the language in the draft agreement which just states it is due to unforeseen circumstances,” Olson said in an email.

Shaw Local News has reached out to McCarron for comment.

While the 1,034-acre site consists of several properties, the annexation agreement specifically pertained to seven individual farmland parcels stretched across a total of 305 acres.

If the developers do not meet the new deadline, in addition to the annexation agreement, both the planned unit development, the utility and infrastructure agreement, and the development agreement would be “null and void,” according to city documents.

The development agreement was key to the project’s near unanimous approval by City Council as it contained a $51 million up-front offer to be paid over the next four years, contingent on the developers closing on the property.

Project Cardinal’s $51 million was bundled with a development agreement of $40 million by the developers of the 540-acre Project Steel data center.

The city and developers of both Project Cardinal and Project Steel have since been sued by residents forming a community-based organization, Preserve Out Yorkville & Community LLC, who argue the city failed to properly notify area residents.

The lawsuits also argue the sound, traffic, environmental and property values studies were not comprehensive in taking into account the lengthy period of construction and the close proximity of the other data center projects approved by the city.

City addressing water usage

The city is also seeking to codify a memorandum of understanding regarding water usage penalties that will be imposed by the city if the data center exceeds approved limits.

The city is looking to impose penalties if Project Cardinal exceeds 71,400 gallons of water on any particular day or if it exceeds an average of 42,000 gallons per day across an entire billing cycle.

If the data center exceeds the daily limits on any day, or exceeds the set limits for average daily usage across an entire billing cycle, the city will impose a penalty until compliance is met, according to city documents.

During an April City Council meeting, Mayor John Purcell said there’s “no more appetite” from the City Council for data center proposals outside of what’s already been approved.

The city was at one point entertaining about a dozen different data center proposals stretched out across more than 3,000 acres of the Eldamain Corridor, for Yorkville’s own “data center alley.”

The city already has approved the 228-acre CyrusOne data center, the Project Cardinal data center and the 540-acre Project Steel data center.