A Multi-Billion-Dollar Data Center Takes a Step Forward in Coal City

On June 24, 2026, the Village Board of Coal City, Illinois, advanced one of the largest economic-development projects in the community’s history: a proposed Aligned Data Centers campus south of Reed Road that backers say represents a multi-billion-dollar investment. With newly released project details now public — from a roughly 305-acre site and a dedicated substation to an estimated 2,000 construction jobs — here is what the data center supply chain needs to know.

What the Board Did

The Village Board adopted two tax increment financing (TIF) inducement resolutions:

• Resolution 26-09 — a redevelopment project involving The Reed Group, LLC, the local landowner and developer.
• Resolution 26-10 — a redevelopment project involving Aligned Data Centers (Acquisition) PropCo, LLC, the data center developer and operator.

Both resolutions amend earlier inducement resolutions the board first adopted on November 25, 2024 (Resolutions 24-13 and 24-14), which acknowledged that the two entities intended to plan a development in the Village’s industrial park and might seek TIF assistance. The June 2026 amendments update that framework to reflect eighteen months of progress.

The Development, in Detail

The project is a hyperscale-class data center campus on land south of Reed Road in Coal City’s industrial park, Grundy County. Aligned’s own community materials describe a site of approximately 305 acres. The deal pairs a local landowner with a national operator:

• The Reed Group, LLC — a local landowner/developer (1488 South Broadway Street, Coal City) assembling and preparing the property.
• Aligned Data Centers — a national hyperscale and colocation developer/operator founded in 2013 and headquartered in Plano, Texas, known for its adaptive, modular infrastructure.

Key engineering and infrastructure details now on the public record:

• Power. Aligned has told the Village it will fund a new substation and switchyard at no cost to ratepayers — infrastructure that is also designed to serve future loads in the surrounding area. The campus would connect directly to the high-capacity regional transmission system (under ComEd Transmission Security Agreements), bypassing local distribution lines used by homes and small businesses.
• Cooling and water. The design uses an air-cooled heat rejection system paired with a sealed closed-loop that recycles deionized water, so ongoing water use is minimal — Aligned projects roughly 41,500 gallons per day at the site.
• Sound. Operating sound levels are projected to stay within 55–65 dB at the nearest residence, with critical-grade silencers, acoustically treated enclosures, setbacks, and defined quiet hours.
• Investment. The resolutions state the developer’s total estimated investment will be in the multi-billions of dollars.

Jobs and Local Sourcing — The Supplier Headline

For contractors and vendors, the most important details are in Aligned’s workforce commitments:

• ~2,000 projected construction roles, with a stated commitment to maximizing local union labor — and the largest demand in the MEP trades (mechanical, electrical, and plumbing).
• ~300 permanent full-time positions operating the facility, plus thousands of estimated indirect jobs across the regional economy.
• Aligned says it will prioritize local construction personnel and that locally sourced vendor arrangements are expected to include mechanical and electrical contracts, landscaping, janitorial, and security.
• The company has also signaled trade-pipeline investment, including a $100,000 donation to the mikeroweWORKS Foundation supporting welding, HVAC, electrical, and plumbing certifications.

For electrical and power-distribution firms, substation and high-voltage contractors, mechanical and cooling specialists, civil and site-work crews, general contractors, and commissioning, security, landscaping, and janitorial vendors, that is a clear map of where the early and sustained demand will sit.

How the Project Advanced: The “But-For” Letters

Since the 2024 resolutions, both parties have submitted formal “but-for” letters — representations that the project would not be financially feasible but for the requested TIF incentives. The Reed Group’s letter (January 12, 2026, signed by asset manager Joseph J. Phillips) cites property assemblage, infrastructure, and site costs. Aligned’s letter (February 26, 2026, signed by Executive Vice President David W. Robinson) adds the cost of constructing the power substation. The “but-for” test is a cornerstone of Illinois TIF law under the Tax Increment Allocation Redevelopment Act (65 ILCS 5/11-74.4 et seq.), and clearing it is a meaningful procedural marker.

The Financing Path: Two Options

The resolutions lay out two possible routes for the Village to capture and share tax increment:

1. Create a new TIF District II that includes the developer’s property and project, or
2. Adopt a 4th Amendment to the existing TIF District I, which would require obtaining a 12-year legislative extension of that district.

The Village has not committed to either path; the resolutions express the board’s “intent and sense” rather than a binding guarantee. Notably, the inducement allows TIF-eligible project costs incurred from the date of the resolution to potentially be reimbursed later through a special tax allocation fund — provided a redevelopment agreement is ultimately executed — giving the developer a basis to begin incurring certain pre-development costs now.

Important Caveats

The inducement resolutions are explicitly non-binding. They do not guarantee that a TIF district will be created or extended, that a redevelopment agreement will be reached, or that the necessary zoning relief will be approved — the developer acknowledges as much in the resolution language. Jobs and investment figures are the developer’s own projections. The project still depends on the Village securing its financing path and the parties negotiating final terms.

The Bottom Line

Coal City has now signaled twice — in 2024 and again in June 2026 — that it wants a major data center development in its industrial park and is prepared to use tax increment financing to help make it happen. With both “but-for” letters filed, a roughly 305-acre site identified, a developer-funded substation in the plans, and an estimated 2,000 construction jobs weighted toward the MEP trades, the project has cleared meaningful hurdles. For the suppliers and contractors who serve this sector, it is a development worth watching closely as it moves toward redevelopment agreements and, potentially, construction.