Data center land purchases total 1,633 acres so far

The majority of the land for the proposed data center in Port Washington has been acquired by its developer, Vantage Data Centers, Ozaukee County officials were told last week.

“Most of the data center land has been purchased,” a total of 1,633 acres, Geographic Information Systems Coordinator Diana Lewis told members of the Natural Resources Committee last week.

A total of about 1,900 acres are being eyed for a data center complex that would be located from I-43 north to Dixie Road and from the Ozaukee Interurban Trail east to Highway LL. 

“Some owners have not sold,” she said. “I don’t know if they’re holding out.”

In addition, Lewis said the county has not yet received annexation transfers from the Town of Port Washington to the city.

“We have not yet received any ordinances for annexations from the Town of Port Washington to the City of Port Washington,” Lewis told supervisors.

On Tuesday, Lewis confirmed that nothing had changed.

Lewis and Register of Deeds Jennifer Laurin said the number of parcels coming in from the sale of data center parcels have added to an already busy real estate season for their office.

“There have been a large number of deeds coming in to the Register of Deeds office to process with each acquisition,” Lewis said. “Part of this involves mapping out every legal description on the deeds to verify the entire parcel is being sold.”

“Real estate sales are up, so this has added to the high volume of documents being processed,” Laurin said.

In June, the Register of Deeds Office recorded 1,176 documents, an increase from 920 documents during the same month in 2024, Laurin said. 

About 84% of the documents were submitted electronically, mostly unchanged from June 2024, she said.

That generated a profit of $72,991 for the month of June, contributing to a year-to-date total of $204,766.

Transfer fees collected in June amounted to $397,848, with $318,278 going to the state and $79,569.60 to the county.

The Land Information Office reported a profit of $1,291 for June, with a year-to-date profit of $16,947. 

Each sale of data center land requires creating new parcel numbers and redoing maps and addresses, Lewis said

The new maps are available through the county Land Information Office website at https://www.ozaukeecounty.gov/339/Land-Information.