20MW data center proposed in Starbucks' Seattle HQ building in Washington
June 24, 2026
20MW Data Center Proposed in Starbucks’ Seattle Headquarters Building
A proposal to develop a sub-20MW data center inside the building that houses Starbucks’ global headquarters in Seattle, Washington, has been filed with the city, marking a strategic move to navigate the city’s recently enacted moratorium on new data center developments.
Colossus Data Center Advisors, a specialized advisory firm founded in 2014, has submitted an application to build the facility at 2401 Utah Ave. S, located in the Sodo neighborhood of Seattle. The data center would occupy a former Amazon Fresh retail store and distribution center within the complex, a space Amazon vacated around 2024.
The proposed facility would span approximately 20,000 square feet (1,860 sqm) within the six-story, 180,000-square-foot building at the southern end of the Sodo complex, as well as 25,600 square feet (2,380 sqm) within the nine-story, 1.3 million-square-foot main building. The entire site, known as the Starbucks Center—originally built for Sears in 1915 and purchased by Nitze‑Stagen & Co. in 1990—totals 1.8 million square feet (170,000 sqm), with the coffee chain as its largest tenant.
The 20MW capacity is strategically set just below the threshold that would trigger a ban under Seattle’s recently introduced data center moratorium. Building owners told the Seattle Times that a conceptual site plan has been submitted to the city solely to gauge feasibility, emphasizing that no tenant has yet been secured. Colossus Data Center Advisors, which was previously involved in a since-dropped project in Kansas, did not respond to local press requests for comment.
The proposal comes amid broader interest in Seattle’s data center market. Digital Realty recently filed plans to develop a data center at a former Bed Bath & Beyond store in the city, and in April, engineering consultant Pacland submitted preliminary plans for a four-story, 320,000-square-foot (29,730 sqm) data center at 3625 First Ave. S, also in the Sodo neighborhood. These filings underscore the ongoing tension between growing demand for digital infrastructure and local regulatory constraints aimed at curbing data center expansion.
Source: datacenterdynamics | | Data center, Seattle, Starbucks, moratorium, Colossus |
