Indpls Business Journal: Lifeline Data Centers’ Eastgate redevelopment reaches crucial crossroads

The redevelopment of the former Eastgate shopping center is at a crossroads three years after its purchase by a local technology firm.

Lifeline Data Centers bought the 40-acre property in May 2008 from a Dallas entity, JTL Capital LLC, that had expected to tear it down. Lifeline said it would instead invest $23 million to turn the 450,000-square-foot vacant retail center into a data hub.

So far, only about $2.5 million has been invested, but if the Indianapolis City-County Council on May 16 approves plans by the city’s Department of Public Safety to lease 76,000 square feet in the building, Lifeline expects to invest about $10 million more through the end of the year, said Lifeline’s owner, Alex Carroll.

“We’ve always assumed we would renovate it into a high-security office environment,” Carroll said. The city lease would lock in that strategy, precluding the use of the building by retailers or other businesses that welcome the public into their space.

More of the IBJ article

Alex Carroll

Managing Member at Lifeline Data Centers

Alex, co-owner, is responsible for all real estate, construction and mission critical facilities: hardened buildings, power systems, cooling systems, fire suppression, and environmentals. Alex also manages relationships with the telecommunications providers and has an extensive background in IT infrastructure support, database administration and software design and development. Alex architected Lifeline’s proprietary GRCA system and is hands-on every day in the data center.