A large parking lot next door to the Union Station Terminal Annex Building is slated for development as a data center.

CoreSite Realty Corp., a Denver-based owner and operator of data centers across the country, is behind the proposed development, which would raze the parking lot at 900 N. Alameda Street for the construction of a four-story, 93-foot-tall data center with nearly 180,000 square feet of floor area. 

Plans also call for a standalone parking structure with space for up to 216 vehicles, although the bulk of the facility would be occupied by telecommunications equipment, and only a handful of employees are expected to be on-site at any point in time.  A parking demand analysis conducted by a consultant of CoreSite concluded that there would be sufficient demand for 105 spaces during weekdays and 79 spaces during weekends.

Renderings show a contemporary mid-rise building, wrapped with board-formed concrete and cement fiber panels, with vertical metal elements used to break up its facade.  The proposed building is described as being similar in form and size to its historic neighbor.

The Los Angeles Central Area Planning Commission is scheduled to consider the proposed development at its meeting this week.  A staff report recommends approval.

The Terminal Annex, built in 1940, was for nearly 50 years the central mail processing center for Los Angeles.  Since operations shuttered in 1989, it has served as a filming location, and more recently as a data processing center for CoreSite.

The ground-up project, called LA3, would be CoreSite's third Los Angeles area data center - joining the Terminal Annex facility and another at One Wilshire in the Financial District.

Just south of the project site at Union Station, Metro is currently composing an ambitious master plan for the historic transit station which could involve the construction of a new passenger concourse and millions of square feet of commercial development across the property.