Microsoft has filed revised plans for its massive data center campus in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, reducing the number of data center buildings from nine to seven while slightly expanding the project's total footprint, according to reports published October 12.
The revised proposal calls for seven data center buildings, one storage building and two utility substations, replacing the earlier plan for nine data center buildings. The change is part of the $13.3 billion expansion approved earlier this year.
Bigger footprint, lower per-acre value
Despite dropping two buildings, the revised project covers 5,878,080 square feet - roughly 400,000 square feet more than the original plan - indicating the company is building fewer but larger facilities, a pattern consistent with hyperscalers adapting data centers for bigger AI workloads.
The revision carries a notable tax consequence: the two dropped buildings represented nearly $1.9 billion, or about 24 percent, of the Durand Avenue parcel's projected taxable value. The taxable value per acre drops by roughly $2.3 million to $7.7 million per acre, a figure village officials described as conservative.
The prior plan envisioned nine data centers of about 580,000 square feet each, plus 96,000 square feet of office and storage space, across 5.2 million square feet, with a taxable value of $7.97 billion. A separate roughly 530-acre campus on International Drive would hold six more buildings valued at $5.33 billion.
Vote on October 14
The Mount Pleasant Plan Commission is scheduled to consider the revision on October 14 at 1 p.m., with village staff recommending approval. Once fully developed and the TIF debt is retired, the project is projected to generate more than $76 million a year in property taxes, including $45.2 million from the Durand Avenue parcel alone.
The first building, known as Fairwater, came online in June 2026 with about 550 employees, and a second building is due in 2028. With the expansion, Microsoft has surpassed Foxconn as Racine County's largest taxpayer, paying about $19.75 million on $1.224 billion in assessed value.
Sources:
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Microsoft updates Mount Pleasant data center plans
Baxtel - Microsoft trims Mount Pleasant data center plan to seven buildings from nine
The revised proposal calls for seven data center buildings, one storage building and two utility substations, replacing the earlier plan for nine data center buildings. The change is part of the $13.3 billion expansion approved earlier this year.
Bigger footprint, lower per-acre value
Despite dropping two buildings, the revised project covers 5,878,080 square feet - roughly 400,000 square feet more than the original plan - indicating the company is building fewer but larger facilities, a pattern consistent with hyperscalers adapting data centers for bigger AI workloads.
The revision carries a notable tax consequence: the two dropped buildings represented nearly $1.9 billion, or about 24 percent, of the Durand Avenue parcel's projected taxable value. The taxable value per acre drops by roughly $2.3 million to $7.7 million per acre, a figure village officials described as conservative.
The prior plan envisioned nine data centers of about 580,000 square feet each, plus 96,000 square feet of office and storage space, across 5.2 million square feet, with a taxable value of $7.97 billion. A separate roughly 530-acre campus on International Drive would hold six more buildings valued at $5.33 billion.
Vote on October 14
The Mount Pleasant Plan Commission is scheduled to consider the revision on October 14 at 1 p.m., with village staff recommending approval. Once fully developed and the TIF debt is retired, the project is projected to generate more than $76 million a year in property taxes, including $45.2 million from the Durand Avenue parcel alone.
The first building, known as Fairwater, came online in June 2026 with about 550 employees, and a second building is due in 2028. With the expansion, Microsoft has surpassed Foxconn as Racine County's largest taxpayer, paying about $19.75 million on $1.224 billion in assessed value.
Sources:
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Microsoft updates Mount Pleasant data center plans
Baxtel - Microsoft trims Mount Pleasant data center plan to seven buildings from nine
