PORT WASHINGTON, Wis. — A ceremonial groundbreaking was held Wednesday for a controversial $15 billion data center campus in Port Washington, a spokesperson for Vantage Data Centers confirmed in a statement Friday.
Once completed, the center is expected to create about 1,000 jobs to help keep it up and running.
A spokesperson for the company, which is building the data center for Oracle and OpenAI, calls it a “once-in-a-generation” investment in the state.
That’s in addition to the 4,000 people expected to work on its construction, many of them in local union jobs.
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“We have broken ground on the Lighthouse campus, which is a union-first project, creating more than 4,000 skilled construction jobs,” said Mark Freeman, vice president of global marketing for Vantage Data Centers. “And our customers will employ approximately 1,000 individuals to operate this campus when it’s completed. This is a once-in-a-generation, $15 billion-plus investment in Wisconsin, and we are thrilled to get started while continuing to be a corporate neighbor.”
PREVIOUS COVERAGE:
- Port Washington residents launch effort to recall mayor over $15B data center project as work on campus begins
- Neighbors concerned with water consumption as Port Washington data center construction to start next month
- Port Washington approves $8 billion data center as residents raise power line concerns
- Port Washington neighbors react to renderings of large data center complex as city is set to approve project
That investment, however, would come at a steep cost, according to residents opposed to the center, who have flocked to public meetings to voice their concerns since first learning of the project earlier this year.
Those concerns include water usage, power generation and costs incurred by residents as a result of the center — all while leaders have continued to stress the necessity of reducing the city’s current 80% property tax burden for homeowners.
Frustration over these concerns, and what some residents call a lack of transparency, has even led to paperwork being filed to recall Mayor Ted Neitzke.
That paperwork was filed by Sebastian Elischer, a Port Washington resident, on behalf of Great Lakes Neighbors United, a group directly opposed to the data center.
“We believe the people should have the last word in a business deal that we believe to be shrouded in mystery,” Elischer said in a Dec. 16 interview with TMJ4’s Alex Gaul. “We’re not going to deny it’s a challenge, but it’s in the hands of the voters.”
The recall effort faces significant hurdles. Organizers must collect signatures equal to 25 percent of ballots cast in the city during the 2022 gubernatorial election — roughly 1,600 signatures from city residents — within the next 60 days.
Mayor Neitzke responds to recall effort
Mayor Neizke's current term expires in spring 2027. In a multi-page statement sent to TMJ4 News and posted on the city's Facebook page, the mayor emphasized positive contributions to the community and said the recall effort is rooted in misinformation.
"Much of the rhetoric currently surrounding this recall is rooted in misinformation rather than the complex facts of municipal governance. Port Washington deserves strategic leadership that builds up, not a movement that seeks only to obstruct without offering an alternative plan for our city's fiscal or structural needs."
You can read the mayor's full statement here.
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