MICHIANA -- Data centers have been on the minds of many residents in Michiana, as towns see proposals come and go and moratoriums being voted on by county officials.
Several projects are currently active, proposed or under review throughout the region as of May 2026.
In La Porte County, Microsoft is developing a major campus on farmland near Highway 35. The company is currently in the land development phase on the first 500 acres.
In late May, the La Porte Common Council approved a voluntary rezoning request for additional land east of the original site, bringing Microsoft’s total footprint in the area to roughly 1,500 acres. Plans call for 17 data center buildings.
Another Microsoft project remains in development in Granger, where the company purchased about 900 acres in 2024 near Capital Avenue and Cleveland Road. Land development work is ongoing, with construction tentatively expected to begin in fall 2026.
Google is developing a site in Michigan City. The project is located on a former auto parts manufacturing property on Royal Road that sold in 2022. Google publicly identified itself as the investor in April.
Meanwhile, Amazon Web Services already operates a large data center campus in New Carlisle on approximately 1,200 acres near State Road 2.
In southwest Michigan, Cass County currently has the region’s only operational data center facility. Hyperscale Data acquired property off East Prairie Ronde Street in Dowagiac in 2022. In March, the company announced plans to expand the site to 83 acres.
Dowagiac city officials said they were unaware of the expansion plans before the company’s public announcement. Mayor Patrick Bakeman has said on social media that he plans to meet with company representatives.
The growth of data center development has also prompted local governments to consider restrictions.
- Porter Township in Cass County unanimously approved a one-year moratorium on new data centers May 12.
- Penn Township is expected to vote on a similar one-year moratorium tomorrow.
- In Indiana: Fulton, Pulaski and Starke counties all currently have active one-year moratoriums on data center development.
- Marshall County went a step further in April, approving a permanent ban on data centers.
Other proposed projects across the region have stalled or failed to advance.
- In Bristol, officials voted favorably in 2024 on a proposal to rezone nearly 250 acres for a data center project, though there have been few public updates since.
- In Kosciusko County, a 2025 proposal to rezone more than 500 acres near Leesburg for a data center project failed to pass.