Microsoft has acquired 600 acres in Woodward, around 30 miles northwest of Des Moines, Iowa, for a potential data center campus. The purchase was disclosed at a residents’ meeting on October 12, four days after the sale closed. The site lies between Highway 141 and Seminole Avenue, but development plans remain unclear. At least 300 residents attended a meeting after the city council’s regular session was canceled. When asked whether residents could vote on Microsoft’s proposed project, Mayor Todd Folkerts said no. One resident reportedly shouted, “You work for the people,” while another was forcibly removed from the meeting.
Microsoft's land development manager, Jackie Nickolaus, told residents: "We have not even begun to design the building, so we have no idea what mechanical systems will be going into the buildings." She estimated that it would take two to three years to design the campus before construction work would begin, and the first building would take around two years to complete.
Nickolaus said the data center will support cloud computing and data storage rather than AI training. The site was rezoned from agricultural use to Eco Business Park District in June 2026. The purchase price remains undisclosed, but comparable land prices suggest a potential value of around $37.4 million. Microsoft is also developing other data center projects near Des Moines, including Project Ruthenium, Ginger West, Ginger East, Mountain, and Alluvion.
