Dive Brief:
- Microsoft plans to build a $1 billion, 315-acre data center campus south of Milwaukee in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, according to the Racine County Economic Development Corp. A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed with Construction Dive its investment plans for the data center campus.
- The Mount Pleasant Village Board will vote on the proposed development on March 30, and the Racine County Board will vote at its April 11 and April 18 meetings. Pending these approvals, site construction work could start later this year, according to the release.
- The project sits on a wider 2,500-acre plot originally set aside for a Foxconn manufacturing hub, a project once touted by former President Donald Trump and former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker as an example of how to bring manufacturing jobs to the U.S.
Dive Insight:
Pandemic impacts and withdrawals of promised state subsidies caused Foxconn, a Taiwanese electronics company, to scale back plans in October 2020 on its proposed $10 billion plant for the site.
Now, though the project proposal remains subject to vote, a number of officials have already voiced their support for the Microsoft investment.
Racine County executive Jonathan Delagrave said the county and state have been planning for a long-term future to accommodate development and investment by a variety of companies, like Microsoft. Meanwhile, Village of Mount Pleasant President David DeGroot said the city is already equipped with the infrastructure necessary to support a major investment by Microsoft.
“Our first commitment is always to local taxpayers,” said Claude Lois, project director for the Village of Mount Pleasant. “That will be the case as we move forward with Microsoft.”
The area is shovel ready for high level development appropriate for an Electronics and Information Technology Manufacturing Zone designation, a Wisconsin program that provides sales and use tax exemption for construction work located within such a zone, according to the release.
