New life for Eastgate

The long-vacant Eastgate Consumer Mall finally is getting a new tenant: a data-storage and web-hosting company. City officials are planning an 11 a.m. announcement today detailing an expansion for locally based Lifeline Data Centers. Two people familiar with the announcement confirmed that Lifeline plans to reuse all or part of the 370,000-square-foot mall, which was built in 1957. Lifeline now has operations at 733 W. Henry St., just west of downtown. “Seeing that piece of ground come back to life is a big deal,” said Jim Garrard, the city’s economic development director. What do you think?

UPDATE: Lifeline plans to invest $23 million in the blighted property, turning it into a tech campus with several acres of green space. The project is not expected to directly create any jobs, but as many as 1,500 people working for Lifeline clients could have offices in the facility, Garrard said.