Lucent and Alcatel are large Naperville employers and once Nokia purchases the merged firm, consolidating all of its operations into the northern building, it becomes a major presence in the city. At its peak, Nokia employs about 12,000 people in Naperville.

The campus becomes a Nokia facility, but workforce consolidation begins. Nokia eventually moves remaining employees into the adjacent building at 2000 Lucent Lane (which they still occupy), leaving the 1960 building largely vacant.

Nokia officially petitions the City of Naperville to subdivide the massive 175-acre campus into three distinct parts to facilitate a sale:

Attorney for Pulte, Russell Whitaker, says the developer will come to the February meeting with more information on that point. “We definitely have some work to do with the (DuPage) forest preserve district."

Pulte offers revised plan in response to neighbors’ concerns. The number of homes are trimmed by two, traffic flow adjusted, and a road connecting 39th Street to Lucent Lane removed.

Despite outcry, the Naperville City Council approves the Pulte Homes development to build 227 units on the northern portion of the Nokia site.

Nokia sells the 1960 Lucent Lane parcel to Franklin Partners for approximately $4.75 million. Demolition begins shortly after.

Naperville's City Council approved a new, user-friendly plan document that takes into consideration rapidly changing development concepts and trends, incorporates citizen ideas and input and consolidates area and many sub-area plans into a single, streamlined master plan that provides clear guidance to citizens, developers and community leaders.

Mayor Scott Wehrli says concerns have been raised about the negative effects such truck-based facilities can have on residential and office properties. The new wording defines an ORI district as intended for uses "that will not have an adverse effect upon the environmental quality of the community.”

The rules for the ORI zoning district are changed. Previously, data centers were a permitted right. The city changes the law to make Data Centers a "Conditional Use," meaning developers must obtain a special use permit first.

Site development is completed for 161 single-family detached homes and 66 townhome units at the former Nokia/Alcatel-Lucent campus.

Karis Critical officially submits their proposal to the Naperville Planning and Zoning Committee.

At the Naperville Planning & Zoning Committee meeting, Karis Critical faces considerable public pushback over noise and density concerns.

Karis reduces the scope from two buildings to just one building (approx. 211,000 sq ft). Significant concerns raised by residents regarding the noise levels of the 20+ backup diesel generators. The Commission delays the vote to allow for an independent, third-party acoustic review.

Naperville Planning and Zoning reconvenes with public commentary which lasts nearly 4 hours, with over 40 speakers, all expressing opposition to the proposed data center. Due to the length of the meeting, Commissioners continue the meeting to November 19, 2025 for the limited purpose of allowing counsel for Karis Critical to issue a rebuttal, and provide any expert testimony, subject to cross-examination.

After reviewing independent noise findings, and despite considerable opposing testimony by experts pointing to the failure to meet the conditional use standard, the Planning & Zoning Commission voted 8-1 to recommend the project to the City Council.