Board OKs Microsoft data center in southeastern Wisconsin

RACINE, Wis. (AP) — Local leaders have approved plans for a massive Microsoft data center in a southeast Wisconsin village where the world’s largest electronics manufacturer has a huge campus.

The Racine County Board of Supervisors voted 18-1 on Tuesday to approve the software and internet services company’s $1 billion project on 315 acres of land in Mount Pleasant, WDJT-TV reported.

Mount Pleasant is already home to a production site for Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Group.

Microsoft must begin the first phase of construction by July 2026 and begin the second phase by July 2033. Microsoft must purchase the land for $50 million by July 31, 2023, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

According to a fact sheet describing the project compiled by southeastern Wisconsin economic development groups, the 315-acre (127-hectare) parcel is part of a tax-increment financing district that includes the Foxconn campus. Property taxes collected in such districts can be used to subsidize development in the district.

Foxconn would receive the proceeds from the land sale to Microsoft as partial reimbursement of what Foxconn spent to acquire land for the district in 2017, according to the fact sheet. Microsoft would be eligible to recoup 42% of property taxes paid on new construction, up to $5 million annually.