A large data center project that could span more than 1,000 acres and cost more than a $1 billion is being planned in Port Washington, under a new proposal that officials say could help the city achieve its development goals that have yet to be met by previous unrealized proposals.
The proposal comes from Cloverleaf Infrastructure, a Houston-based company that assembles powered, ready-to-build sites for large electric loads, such as data centers, and then sells the site to a user to construct and operate the facilities.
Cloverleaf is trying to assemble a site located generally east of the Interurban Trail, west of I-43 and south of Dixie Road in the Town of Port Washington, which would be annexed into the City of Port Washington.
The company declined to share a specific acreage for the project, but said it has “quite a bit of land under contract,” and City of Port Washington officials said the site could include more than 1,000 acres.
At a City of Port Washington meeting Tuesday night, the company did not disclose a potential buyer for the site, but said that users such as Microsoft, Meta or Amazon are possibilities.
The exact size of the data center — including job numbers, investment amount and energy consumption — would be dependent on the end user, Cloverleaf chief development officer Aaron Bilyeu said. Typically, a data center building for a large user can cost up to $1 billion and create between 50 and 80 permanent jobs, Bilyeu said.
Cloverleaf has reached an agreement with We Energies to bring additional “energy assets” to the area, agreeing to pay for this power generation so other ratepayers won’t have to. Further, Bilyeu said that modern data centers do not require the large amounts of water that they once did, so significant accommodations will not need to be made for the project, though the company has been in discussions with the Department of Natural Resources about how the project’s use of Lake Michigan water would impact the environment.
(The map above denotes the general area being considered for the data center as specific properties under consideration have not been publicly shared.)
Cloverleaf’s plans come after Microsoft committed last year to investing $3.3 billion into a data center project in Mount Pleasant and a 230-acre data center is being planned in Kenosha for an unnamed user.
“The rapidly increasing demand for data centers across the country represents a substantial opportunity for municipalities that have the right site, the right resources and forward-thinking leaders who understand how a data center can benefit residents and their economy,” Bilyeu said. “Port Washington has all of those attributes in place, giving it a distinct advantage that will be attractive to the kinds of companies that make major investments to build and operate data centers.”
Site previously considered for chip manufacturer
The data center concept comes after much of the same land was under consideration for a semiconductor manufacturing plant last spring. Those plans were dropped last year, and M7, WEDC, WE Energies and the City of Port Washington brought the site to Cloverleaf for consideration, according to city officials.
“We started to explore other options and opportunities for the city, and in those conversations, we put conditions in place,” said Port Washington Mayor Ted Neitzke “We don’t want invasive traffic, we don’t want to have to redo our interstates, we don’t want pollution, we don’t want smoke stacks and semis running all of the time. The opportunity that you’re going to see presented to us tonight is one of the options that was brought to us.”
Neitzke said the development of the site for industrial uses would align with the city’s goal of increasing its base of industrial land and its tax base as much of the city’s recent development has been residential, including proposals contemplated for the Cloverleaf site that never materialized.
Throughout the meeting Tuesday, Neitzke and Cloverleaf emphasized that plans are preliminary, though a timeline was not discussed.
“We’re at step one of 1,000,” Neitzke said.
Officials signal support for the project
The Town of Port Washington Town Board met Monday night to have a closed session discussion on its agreement with the city, though no action was taken at the meeting.
Two citizens spoke at the city’s Tuesday meeting with concerns primarily about the city’s transparency throughout the development process.
Neitzke, Port Washington Common Council president Dan Benning and Ozaukee County administrator Jason Dzwinel all signaled support for the project in a statement issued Tuesday night while the Common Council was discussing a pre-development agreement with Cloverleaf in closed session.
“We’re delighted that Cloverleaf Infrastructure is considering a significant investment in the Milwaukee region,” said Gale Klappa, co-chair of M7 and chairman of the board of WEC Energy Group, in a statement. “This technology-forward development promises long lasting economic benefits—benefits that would create a ripple effect across southeastern Wisconsin for years to come. As due diligence progresses, we will continue to collaborate closely with our economic development partners. The announcement of Cloverleaf’s consideration is another sign that the industry recognizes our region for our skilled talent base and our reliable infrastructure.”
