Janesville Pins Economic Recovery on $8 Billion Data Center Brownfield Project
A Colorado real estate company has proposed buying a contaminated 250-acre former General Motors plant in Janesville, Wisconsin, cleaning it up, and building a massive data center campus. The Trump administration is backing the idea as a model for redeveloping blighted industrial sites into AI infrastructure hubs.
The plant once employed 7,000 people at its peak in the 1970s before shutting down during the Great Recession. Today, the city owns the decaying property, which sits layered with concrete to contain soil contaminated with hydrocarbons, heavy metals, and "forever chemicals" from nearly a century of auto manufacturing.
Viridian Partners estimates the cleanup will cost $30 million. The company plans to build 11 buildings with 800 megawatts of capacity and create roughly 600 permanent jobs, plus 13,000 construction jobs.
The Case for Redevelopment
City officials say the project is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for a city of 66,000 that has struggled since the plant closure. Forward Janesville, a business association, said 200 interested parties considered redeveloping the site but abandoned plans because of contamination.
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers local chapter supports the project based on job creation estimates. Kevin Lahner, Janesville's city manager, called it the most viable option for the dilapidated site.
The data center would require about as much electricity as all homes in the Milwaukee metro area. Viridian and its partner, Virginia-based Abbleby Strategy Group, say they would work with utilities to develop a new electrical substation and make modest water and sewer upgrades.
Growing Opposition
Not all residents back the project. Cathy Erdman, a firefighter living a half-mile from the site, questions whether a data center addresses the city's real needs: housing and grocery stores. She worries about property values during the years-long construction and about the city becoming dependent on the AI industry the way it once relied on GM.
Ray Jewell, a pastor whose father worked at the GM plant, raised health concerns. Data centers operate 24/7 and generate noise. Jewell has Parkinson's disease, which causes tinnitus, and fears the facility could worsen his symptoms.
In November, Janesville voters will face a ballot initiative to stop the project. At least two city council candidates are running on an anti-data center platform.
Critics also worry about electricity costs and emissions. We Energies has proposed two new natural gas peaking plants elsewhere in Wisconsin to meet data center demand. Even city officials acknowledge the need for binding protections to prevent rate increases.
Broader Push for Brownfield Data Centers
The Trump administration released EPA guidance in January for reusing brownfields and Superfund sites for data center development. The agency identified 335 contaminated sites that could serve as data center campuses based on size and infrastructure access.
Many are in the Midwest, which developers view as the next major hub for hyperscale projects. Virginia's grid access has become scarce, and the Midwest's cooler climate reduces cooling costs for server facilities. Wisconsin's data center tax breaks are also a draw.
House Republicans introduced legislation to expand EPA's brownfields grant program and make corporate developers eligible for federal loans and grants. The bill would exempt data center projects from reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act.
Regulatory Challenges Ahead
The Janesville property should have been cleaned up by General Motors after it declared bankruptcy, but a technicality made the site ineligible for a $773 million environmental trust set up to remediate former plants.
If the project moves forward, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources must approve cleanup plans. Workers disturbing the concrete cap could be exposed to pollutants. Regulators must also ensure proper groundwater management near the Rock River.
Issac Ross, a remediation manager at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, said the agency has successfully redeveloped dirtier sites. The challenge here is the scale of the footprint involved.
Janesville originally sought a $20 million community change grant from EPA under the Inflation Reduction Act to foster sustainable redevelopment, but the Trump administration canceled that program. The city then began seeking data center developers for the site.
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