Microsoft Corp., which already is building a data center complex in Racine County community Mount Pleasant, has acquired 240 acresin neighboring Kenosha County for a 1 million-square-foot data center.
The city of Kenosha and state of Wisconsin announced Monday that Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) acquired the property northwest of the Interstate 94-Highway 142 exit. The sale price wasn’t disclosed.
The press release said the company’s investment in Kenosha is in addition to Microsoft’s investment in Mount Pleasant, where a $3 billion data center project is well underway.
A Microsoft spokesperson said via email the Monday announcement on Kenosha “is the latest example of our commitment to the people of Wisconsin, and our investments, which are designed to strengthen the role of Southeast Wisconsin as a hub for AI-powered economic activity, innovation, and job creation.”
Microsoft executives are “thrilled to work with local leaders on the next step in our journey together,” the spokesperson said..
The Kenosha Common Council passed ordinances in December 2024 to attach and rezone the property, paving the way for potential data center development. While Kenosha city officials had discussed a data center at the time, the operator’s identity remained confidential until Monday.
Danielle Tatro Coughlin, a civil engineer from Colorado who represented the then-undisclosed company at a November 2024 Kenosha Plan Commission meeting, said the company planned four buildings of 250,000 square feet each, according to meeting minutes.
The buildings will house large-scale computers for data processing storage and transmission and each building will have 10 to 20 employees, Tatro Coughlin said.
She described the positions as technical and security jobs. Salaries will range from $80,000 to $100,000 for the technical roles that will require a college education requirement.
Microsoft has yet to submit plans to the city of Kenosha for the project.
“Today marks a transformative moment for the city of Kenosha as we proudly welcome Microsoft to our community,” Kenosha Mayor David Bogdala said in the press release. “This groundbreaking investment solidifies Kenosha’s position as a hub for innovation and economic growth.”
Kenosha thus became the third southeast Wisconsin site in the past year targeted for major data center projects.
Microsoft confirmed its plans in May 2024 for a multi-phase project in Mount Pleasant. The first phase of the Mount Pleasant campus is well underway but the company confirmed in December pausing some site work to incorporate new data center designs.
Meanwhile, Texas developer Cloverleaf Infrastructure has proposed a mega data center in Port Washington on a 1,900-acre parcel. Officials in the city of Port Washington and the town of Port Washington recently gave preliminary approvals they say will enable Cloverleaf to recruit a data center operator.
Read more at the Milwaukee Business Journal.