Town land sought for sprawling data center

Land in the Town of Port Washington that had been under contract for a microchip manufacturing facility is now being considered for a sprawling data center.

Additional properties are also being placed under contract for the potential multi-phase development that could usurp 2,000 or more acres, according to several landowners.

Rick Fellenz, a former town chairman and building inspector, said Tuesday that Jeff Hoffman, a principal with the Milwaukee commercial real estate company Cushman & Wakefield/Boerke, made an offer on his property this summer and again last week.

Fellenz, who owns 25 acres on Highland Drive, said he was told that the company already has 1,800 acres under contract, with property owners being required to sign nondisclosure agreements.

He said he’s been told that  the company wants to annex the land to the City of Port in January and purchase the properties under contract in May.

“They want to get this thing going fast,” Fellenz said.

The first phase of the project, Fellenz said, would develop an area from the City of Port north to Lake Drive and from Highway LL to the Interurban Trail.

“They call it ‘the triangle,’” he said.

He was told a second phase would extend the project north from Lake Drive to Dixie Road, Fellenz said.

A data center is a physical location that stores computing machines and their related hardware equipment. It contains the computing infrastructure that IT systems require, such as servers, data storage drives and network equipment.

Such facilities use a significant amount of power and water, Fellenz said, adding they can use five million gallons of water each day per unit, and three units would be installed as part of the first phase.

He’s also been told the company has been in talks with We Energies about extending the necessary power to the area, Fellenz said.

Fellenz said he’s been told that Cloverleaf Infrastructure would develop the site and that a site plan was expected to be presented to the City of Port by mid-December and the Town Board in January.

Town Chairman Mike Didier could not be reached for comment.

Town Supr. Greg Welton said Monday that he has heard rumors of a proposed data center.

“As far as the town, we haven’t had any official notifications,” Welton said. “But it seems like something like this is possible.”

He said that Cloverleaf Infrastructure is a “middle man” that would potentially develop the site for a technology company.

Others have described the firm as a company that creates site-ready plans, doing the groundwork for a tech development, securing such things as permits, water and power, then turning the project over to a partner company to build and operate.

Fellenz attended the Common Council meeting Tuesday, asking officials if they had received a plan.

“We’d like to see the site plan when you get it,” he said.

Port Mayor Ted Neitzke said Tuesday that the city does not have a plan for a development on the land.

“The plans have not been solidified. We will know much more after the first of the year,” he said.

When asked, Neitzke said he’s “not surprised” by talk of a proposed data center or other development.

“We have been in conversation about that land for seven, eight months with lots of different people with lots of different ideas,” he said.

Fellenz said that Hoffman extended an offer for his property to him in July but he refused, calling the offer “an insult.” Last week, he said, Hoffman extended a similar offer, which he and his wife Jane also rejected.

“We’ve had the land for almost 50 years, and it’s been in the family for over 100,” he noted.

Fellenz said he’s concerned about potential noise and light pollution and the fact data centers typically have about a 20-year lifespan.

Also concerning, he said, are reports that the company may close Highland Drive and put in a driveway.

“They’ll still have to provide us access (to their home),” he said.

Earlier this year, the town was one of three locations said to be under consideration for development by a microchip maker. The other locations were in Indiana and Ohio.

While it may seem an unlikely pairing — a high tech business in a rural community — the company was said to be drawn to the area because of its access to an abundance of water. And it was later learned that the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. — the state’s lead agency in promoting economic development — played a role in negotiations with the chip maker.

Hoffman offered the landowners $42,000 an acre — considerably more than the land was worth — residents told Ozaukee Press.

The land was described as extending north from Knellsville at the town’s border with the City of Port Washington to roughly Dixie Road and is west of I-43 and east of the Ozaukee Interurban Trail.

To develop the proposed facility, the land would have been annexed to the city. City officials were tight lipped about any proposal, and it was later revealed that officials had signed a nondisclosure agreement regarding the proposal.

In September, officials said the town land was no longer in the running for the chip factory but that Hoffman was marketing the properties for another development.