Muskegon County Preparing for Future Data Center Development

With the recent announcement of Switch’s $5 billion SUPERNAP data center in Kent County and Michigan’s new legislation to attract data centers to the state, Muskegon County Wastewater Management System has announced it is preparing part of its 11,000 acre property for future data center development.

The site, known as MI Tech Hub, is located in Egelston Township in eastern Muskegon County. It is being marketed to data center operators. The site includes ample space, redundant high voltage electricity, water and connectivity.

PTS Data Center Solutions, a data center design and consulting firm, was commissioned to perform a study to determine the value of the MI Tech Hub site.

“PTS has found that the Muskegon County Wastewater Management site is an economically viable and feasible site to operate a data center”, said Peter Sacco, president and founder of PTS Data Solutions.

“The dream is that we can get a bit of “The Cloud” to settle down on Wastewater property,” says Wastewater Director Dave Johnson. “At this point it’s hard to predict the full scope of the MI Tech Hub – so much potential is there. I see it as a means by which Muskegon County could serve other Michigan counties by hosting a data center for redundant data storage, but it could end up being much more than that.”

“This is a significant economic development opportunity that Muskegon County should take advantage of to fully utilize our assets”, says Terry J. Sabo, Chairman of the Muskegon County Board of Commissioners.

Michigan’s new data center legislation exempts all new and existing data centers and co-located businesses from state sales and use tax on data center equipment for 20 years. The legislation applies to companies in which data centers operations are the primary source of business and generates 75 percent or more of its revenue from the operation of a data center.