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Data Holdings, the Forest County Potawatomi Community's data center business, has filed a zoning request to expand its Milwaukee facility, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. The application describes an expansion of up to 59,000 square feet beside the existing 46,000-square-foot data center at 3135 W. Highland Blvd. The Common Council must approve the change, which
Featured: Clear landscape shot of the Milwaukee data center building showing its architecture and secure perimeter. would use an exemption in the city's one-year data center moratorium.
The Common Council approved the one-year moratorium on Oct. 13, 2026, pausing new data centers and most expansions. The ordinance exempts projects that pursue a detailed planned development zoning change, which requires review by the City Plan Commission and the Common Council, Urban Milwaukee reported. Potawatomi's filing seeks an amendment to the planned development approved for its Wgema Campus, the former Concordia University campus at 3234 W. State St.
Data Holdings is a subsidiary of the Potawatomi Business Development Corp. and operates the facility on land held in trust for the tribe. The data center opened in 2013 and serves businesses and government agencies. Ryan Brooks, Data Holdings' general manager and chief technology officer, said in September that the facility had about 80 customers.
The addition would rise immediately west of the existing data center, on a site now occupied by solar panels that a 2020 zoning amendment allowed for five years. The new application says the solar equipment would move to the roof.
"We've been encouraged by the demand from local companies and institutions for our data center services," said Ryan Brooks, Data Holdings' general manager and chief technology officer. "The purpose isn't changing, and this isn't a hyperscale AI development. We would continue operating much as we do today, just with additional capacity."
The draft permanent rules would prohibit data centers larger than 60,000 square feet without special approval. At 59,000 square feet, the proposed expansion would sit just below that threshold if the city evaluates it apart from the existing building. WISN described the work as growth to 59,000 square feet from 46,000, while Urban Milwaukee described it as an addition that would bring the total to about 105,000 square feet.
The Department of City Development confirmed it received the application; detailed plans are not yet available. The tribe must submit full development plans and a narrative before hearings at the City Plan Commission and the Common Council's Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development Committee. No hearing dates have been set.
Ald. Robert Bauman, who represents the 4th Aldermanic District, supports the expansion and told Urban Milwaukee the building blends into the surrounding 1890s residential neighborhood. A separate plan to convert a former Walmart into a 19,000-square-foot AI-focused data center drew resident opposition, Data Center Dynamics reported.
Baxtel tracks 64 data center sites in the Milwaukee market, operated by 28 providers, with six under construction. Baxtel lists Data Holdings Milwaukee as an operational facility with 2MW of capacity.
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