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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowA Michigan company plans to open a $10 million, 25-employee data center in downtown Indianapolis, the firm announced Wednesday.
Online Tech LLC has acquired and plans to renovate a 44,000-square-foot building at 505 W. Merrill St., just west of Lucas Oil Stadium. The building previously belonged to the Midwest Independent System Operator, which manages the power grid for much of the Midwest. MISO used the building as a backup data center, a spokeswoman said.
About half of the $10 million investment covered the building purchase, and the remainder will go toward renovations, said Online Tech co-CEO Mike Klein. The company expects construction to finish by this fall.
Before then, 60-employee Online Tech will hire for information technology, sales and administrative positions. Most jobs will pay between $60,000 and $100,000 per year, Klein said.
Health care and software firms, especially ones in health IT, provide the most business for Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Online Tech. Downtown’s hospitals and tech firms made the area ideal for Online Tech, Klein said.
Indianapolis will serve as a launch pad for larger ambitions to expand in the Great Lakes states.
The Merrill Street facility will be Online Tech’s fifth total, and its first outside its home state.
The firm plans to stay within the Midwest for the near term because of a “void” it sees in data-center services, Klein said.
“You go to the West Coast or the East Coast, even in Chicago, it’s a pretty busy marketplace,” he said. “There’s not a lot in secondary markets.”
Online Tech joins a handful of similar companies with data centers in the Indianapolis area. LightBound, Lifeline Data Centers, Bluelock and Expedient (formerly nFrame), among others, all have opened facilities or expanded in recent years.
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