Equinix Chicago CH1, CH2, & CH4

Latest Podcast 350 East Cermak Road

Operational

Fully operational facility

Chicago: Downtown

Metro
Chicago

Metro
Illinois

State
Midwest US

Region
United States

Country
North America

Region
Americas

Region

Equinix Chicago CH1, CH2, & CH4

Ownership: Equinix does not own the building.

This site is leased from Digital Realty Trust in the Digital Realty: ORD10 building

Total Power

SqFt

Gross Colocation Size

The Equinix CH1, CH2, and CH4 data centers are located at 350 East Cermak Rd in Chicago, which is one of the biggest carrier hotels in the world. The building is an unusual confluence of two Interconnection ecosystems, Internet Exchange and Financial Exchange. The two ecosystems create significant demand for space in the building and therefore available colocation space is limited and pricing is higher.

Equinix distinctly separates CH1, CH2, and CH4 into separate data centers, but in reality, the sites are in the same building. Overtime when Equinix ran out of capacity the company expanded to a new floor and gave the site a new name (ie, CH1, CH2, etc.) The chart below breaks down the sites and their locations.

Site	Location	Gross SqFt	Usable SqFt	Power MW
CH1	5th Floor	166,084	50,992	3.3
CH2	6th Floor	110,618	58,852	2.5
CH4	8th Floor	20,225	19,169	2.4
Total		296,927	129,013	8.2

The Building:

Digital Realty Trust owns the building at 350 Cermak and is Equinix's Landlord. Digital Reality also operates the building Meet Me Room (MMR) on the 2nd floor. The MMR is a legacy Telx facility.

Cross Connects & Reaching Non-Equinix Suites in the Building:

Equinix controls and manages conduit to deliver cross-connects between each of their suites in the building. From a cross-connect perspective, Equinix treats CH1, CH2, and CH4 as one large data center. If a carrier is on a different Equinix floor, they are reachable via a standard cross-connect and there are no additional charges to connect within Equinix's site(s) at 350 E Cermak beyond the standard XC fee.

However, it is expensive to connect to networks outside of Equinix space. An Intra-Building Cross Connect (IBCC) is a fiber pair (effectively a cross-connect) that runs from an Equinix suite (A-side) to the building's meet-me room (formerly Telx) on the 2nd floor. The total cost of the pair can be over $1,000 MRC. (IBCCs are at least $750 MRC and there can be Z-end charges as well.)

Other Equinix Sites in Chicago

Equinix maintains two other locations in Chicago. CH3 is a large data center in Elk Grove and CH7 is a smaller data center in Westmont that was a legacy Verizon facility.

Connections to CH3 in Elk Grove

Equinix connects it's other Chicago data centers together via it's Metro Connect service. Metro Connect is effectively a 'carrier-grade' transport network between the company's Chicago facilities.

Telco Info:

Equinix connects their Cermak site to Equinix CH3 via IBX Link, which is a lit transport service.


NPA/NXX	312-255
CLLI Code	CHCGILCA
LEC	AT&T (Ameritech)
LATA	358

Map and Nearby Locations

350 East Cermak Road ( 5th, 6th, and 8th Floors )

Equinix Sites

Nearby Facilities

Sites within 15 miles of Equinix Chicago CH1, CH2, & CH4

Distance	Site	About
0.00 miles	Colocation America CH1
0.00 miles	Digital Realty: ORD10	Digital Realty acquired the colocation services business of Hivelocity in 2025.
0.00 miles	Centersquare: Chicago ORD1	Centersquare's ORD1 site is located in the heart of the Chicago Financial District on the 7th floor of an 8-story building on a fiber-linked campus.
0.00 miles	Steadfast Chicago 350 E Cermak
0.02 miles	Deft: Downtown CH1
0.03 miles	Centersquare: Chicago ORD1(B, C & D)	Digital Realty Trust owns the building at 350 Cermak and is CTL's Landlord.
1.30 miles	CoreSite Chicago CH2	In February 2018, CoreSite acquired a two-acre land parcel in downtown Chicago, Illinois, on which CoreSite built CH2, a greenfield development of a 175,000-square-foot, turn-key, four-story data center supporting 18 critical megawatts of power capacity. The building was completed in June 2020.
1.50 miles	725 S Wells - 1547 Critical Systems	In 2025, a joint venture formed by Harrison Street Real Estate Capital, LLC and fifteenfortyseven Critical Systems Realty (“1547”) acquired this data center from CIM Group.
1.50 miles	Crown Castle 725 S Wells
1.52 miles	Netrality Chicago: 717 S Wells	The 10 story building was constructed in 1923 and eventually was converted into a data center.
1.53 miles	Lumen Chicago 5
1.53 miles	Colocation America CH2
1.53 miles	Cogent: 600 S Federal
1.53 miles	Digital Realty: Chicago ORD11
1.53 miles	DataBank (ORD1) 600 S Federal
1.62 miles	Server Farm Realty 840 South Canal	4 MW Critical Load on Each Floor (Floors 1-5) 130-160 Watts per Raised Floor SF
1.62 miles	DataBank (ORD2) 840 S Canal
1.66 miles	365 Chicago	The site is a former Switch and Data site (also owned by Equinix for a short period.)
1.66 miles	CoreSite Chicago CH1	Once owned by the Western Union company, the building was formerly known as "The Telegraph Building."
1.66 miles	Cogent: 427 S LaSalle
1.68 miles	QuadraNet Chicago
1.71 miles	Legacy: Chicago Byte Exchange CBE1	An affiliate of real estate firm Prime Group bought an office building in Chicago from options exchange company Cboe Global Markets for $12 million.
1.75 miles	First Communications Chicago
1.77 miles	TierPoint Chicago Polk
1.88 miles	Cogent: 216 W Jackson
1.88 miles	Verizon: 140 S Dearborn
2.25 miles	Lumen Chicago 6
2.33 miles	EXA - 111 North Canal	Former GTT suite
2.33 miles	Lumen Chicago 1
2.34 miles	Lumen Chicago 3
2.61 miles	QTS: Chicago 2	QTS is developing 366,000 sq ft (34,000 sqm) of data center space across three stories, alongside 80,000 sq ft (7,432 sqm) of office and loading areas in its Chicago Campus.
2.68 miles	QTS: Chicago Campus	The campus was a former Sun Times Press Facility and was acquired in 2014
2.72 miles	QTS: Chicago 3	QTS plans to build another data center building on its Chicago Campus.
2.98 miles	Metro Edge: Illinois Medical District (IMD)	Commercial real estate investment firm Metro Edge Development is building a data center in Chicago, Illinois.
3.24 miles	Lumen Chicago 4
3.39 miles	Lumen Chicago 2
4.09 miles	1547 Chicago Midway Technology Centre	In 2025, a joint venture formed by Harrison Street Real Estate Capital, LLC and fifteenfortyseven Critical Systems Realty (“1547”) acquired this data center from CIM Group.
8.56 miles	Carrier-Neutral Data Center Request Dataset	MicroLink is planning to build a data center in Chicago, Illinois.
8.78 miles	Related Digital: Chicago, IL	Related Digital is planning a 430-acre campus in Chicago, Illinois, at the old US Steel South Works location.
8.81 miles	Related Digital: Chicago Expansion
11.21 miles	CoreWeave: Hammond, IN
11.23 miles	Digital Crossroad: Hammond, IN (Phase 2)	Digital Crossroad is planning to expand its campus in Hammond, Indiana. The company plans to add another 450,000 sq ft (16,720 sqm) building in the second phase.
11.33 miles	Digital Crossroad (Indiana NAP)	The facility (DX-1) is a 105,000 square foot data center located on the former State Line Generating Plant, Hammond, IN.
12.35 miles	Lumen Broadview
13.31 miles	Digital Realty: Franklin Park Expansion	Digital Realty acquired two land parcels near their existing Franklin Park campus in separate transactions on July 2025, for a total of approximately $18 million.
13.32 miles	Tierpoint Chicago West
13.39 miles	Digital Chicago Franklin Park Campus on Grand Ave - Digital Realty	Digital Chicago is a master-planned 40-acre campus in the Village of Franklin Park. The campus has 3 existing buildings, totaling 574,994 sqft
13.40 miles	Digital Realty: ORD14
13.40 miles	Digital Realty: ORD13
13.42 miles	Digital Realty: Chicago ORD12
13.54 miles	Digital Realty: ORD15	In 2017, Digital Realty acquired the former Motorola Headquarters site in Franklin Park and subsequently converted it into a data center.
15.57 miles	DataBank (ORD4) Oak Brook
15.57 miles	Verizon: Swift Dr
15.57 miles	LexusNexis Oak Brook
15.77 miles	505 N Railroad Ave - Digital Realty	The Digital Chicago Campus covers 21 acres of land with access to major fiber networks and can support up to 8 MW of IT load at N+1 redundancies.
15.91 miles	Aligned Chicago ORD-01	Aligned's ORD-01 data center is a state-of-the-art facility located in Northlake, IL, just outside of downtown Chicago. At full build, Aligned’s Chicago campus covers 520,000 sq. ft. and offers ~ 100 MW of critical load.
15.93 miles	Aligned ORD-02	Aligned's ORD-02 is a data center located in Northlake, IL near downtown Chicago. Part of Aligned's 18.5-acre hyperscale campus.
16.16 miles	Hyperscale Data Center Request Dataset
16.29 miles	T5: Chicago lll	T5@Chicago III will be build-to-suit, with the company spending more than $500 million to develop a three-story, 250,000 sq ft facility for multi-tenant or single-tenant operations.
16.54 miles	Server Farm Oak Brook	The campus was originally built as the corporate headquarters of the Chicago Bridge & Iron Company (CB&I).
16.54 miles	US Signal Oakbrook IL01	800a 480V 3 phase 450kW diesel generator with 24 hour run time at full load 500kVa UPS capacity with battery backup
16.54 miles	Verizon: (Oak Brook)
16.66 miles	NYI Chicago (Oak Brook)
17.30 miles	Iron Mountain Chicago	First announced in 2018, the former Hart Schaffner Marx suit factory started construction in 2024.
18.47 miles	Equinix Chicago CH7
19.45 miles	TA Realty: Elk Grove	TA Realty is constructing a 45-acre data center campus at the corner of Elmhurst Road and Old Higgins Road. The development includes four two-story buildings and an electrical substation.
19.65 miles	Carrier-Neutral Data Center Request Dataset	CyrusOne is developing a 62-acre campus in Wood Dale, Illinois, with plans to construct six data center buildings encompassing approximately 1.4 million square feet.
19.69 miles	Element Critical CH1	Element Critical acquired the site in January 2019 from Sungard. The facility was previously known as SunGard Wood Dale (711).
19.71 miles	Element Critical CH2	Element Critical acquired the site in January 2019 from Sungard. The facility was previously known as SunGard Wood Dale (341).
19.77 miles	T5: Chicago V	T5 Data Centers has secured land in Elk Grove Village to build its upcoming CHI V data center. The planned 220,000 square foot (20,438 sqm) facility is expected to be operational by 2028.
19.87 miles	EdgeConneX CHI01
19.88 miles	Centersquare: Chicago ORD2	Cyxtera's CH3 Elk Grove site is across the street from the Digital Realty Chicago campus (former Dupont Fabros) and close to Equinix CH3.
19.90 miles	EdgeConneX: CHI03	EdgeConneX CHI03 is a new 167,000-square-foot, two-story data center building on its Elkgrove campus near Chicago.
19.97 miles	EdgeConneX CHI02
19.98 miles	Stream Chicago I	Free-Standing, Data Center Designed to Tier III Standards
19.98 miles	2299 Busse (CH2) Digital Realty

Equinix Chicago CH1, CH2, & CH4 Data Center Photos See all

Outside of 350 E Cermak

Source: Baxtel

This stacking plan shows the layout of CH1, CH2, and CH4 in the building. The Telx (now Digital Realty) Meet-Me-Room on the 2nd floor. Financial Exchanges such as BATS, CME, and ICE are also noted.

Stack Plan for Equinix Facilities in 350 E Cermak

Source: Equinix

This stacking plan shows the layout of CH1, CH2, and CH4 in the building. The Telx (now Digital Realty) Meet-Me-Room on the 2nd floor. Financial Exchanges such as BATS, CME, and ICE are also noted.

Rooftop view at 350 E Cermak

Source: Baxtel

Equinix cage door

Source: Baxtel

Operating Company

Equinix connects the world’s leading businesses to their customers, employees and partners inside the most interconnected data centers.

318

Facilities

2093MW

Megawatts

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