US project to attract Chinese investors

Union Station Technology Center (USTC), the largest data center in northern Indiana in the Midwest United States, wants to attract Chinese investors and companies. A USTC delegation is now traveling around eight cities in China to meet with potential investors.

Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture (AS+GG) is leading the redesign of the former Studebaker corridor on the southwest edge of downtown South Bend in an area known as the Renaissance District. AS+GG designed the world's second tallest building, Kingdom Tower, now under construction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The area, which will need an investment of $118 million, will be developed as part of a more than one million-square-foot mixed-use campus. This will include first class office, education, technology, research grade manufacturing, data center and live-work spaces. The site is very close to the University of Notre Dame and is also home to many Asian companies and communities.

"When it comes to creating spaces that harness and create human and physical energy, AS+GG is the world leader," said Kevin M. Smith, USTC chief executive officer. "They have a great team, and it is both humbling and exhilarating to think that South Bend's Renaissance District could become an international model for talent attraction and energy utilization."

Zhao Jing, who is the China consultant for the project, said that the project is going to raise $40 million globally from 80 investors, and will help the investors and their families get green cards.

She said the first stage of this project is already finished, and is hosting major companies that have annual revenues between $1.5 billion to $15 billion. The second stage of this project will offer more opportunities to small and medium-sized companies that want to establish data centers in the US.

From its origins as a wagon company, the Studebaker Corp became the nation's fourth largest automobile manufacturer, employing as many as 23,000 people in South Bend prior to the company's closure in 1963. The Studebaker corridor redevelopment project provides a platform to enable a new wave of data and technology companies to thrive in South Bend. When completed, the lights will be turned back on in these highly visible, iconic structures and people will once again work and live in this once-abandoned urban corridor.

"The Renaissance District is a remarkable vision that demonstrates how cities must renew themselves in a vibrant, yet sustainable fashion," said Gordon Gill, a founding partner of AS+GG. "It is exciting to be a part of a project that enables companies with growing data and energy needs to actually reduce their carbon footprint and energy costs while revitalizing a community. This project will be a trendsetter that the world will follow."