A $1 billion, 237-acre data center project in Lowell Township is on indefinite hold after public backlash and a packed hearing, with the end customer still undisclosed under NDA.
Franklin Partners is the public-facing developer and describes the client only as a national, American-owned company, echoing a similar opaque, paused proposal they were involved with near Kalamazoo.
The delay means no clear timeline for when grid upgrades, power procurement, cooling design, or construction for a large GPU-capable facility might actually start in this market.
Local resistance focused on process and impact, signaling that even Midwest greenfield sites aren’t guaranteed fast paths for high-density compute builds.
Other projects approved in the area are conventional commercial, industrial, and residential developments, none on the same scale or with the same energy and infrastructure implications as the data center.
For AI infrastructure watchers, the real signal is that large, likely GPU-heavy builds are moving into secondary metros but running into community and transparency headwinds that can stall deployment.
The article is worth a read for texture on how local planning politics can materially slow big AI data center ambitions.
Source: $1B data center among projects proposed in Grand Rapids area in December – mlive.com
