Amid furor over data center secrecy, Michigan developers try a new approach

Amid growing public opposition to the secrecy surrounding data center developments, Lansing-area economic development officials say they’re trying a new approach centered on transparency and community involvement.

Leaders of the Lansing Economic Area Partnership on Tuesday announced they’re considering a possible data center at a 423-acre site in Delhi Charter Township near Holt, but whether they move forward with the idea will depend upon how the community reacts.

“We’re announcing a process today, not a project,” said Bob Trezise, the partnership’s president and CEO.

Unlike other data center plans that were hatched in secret long before the public was made aware, backers of the Holt-area proposal say they haven’t discussed the project with local officials, signed non-disclosure agreements, identified an end user or started filing land use applications.

“We are literally answering what people have called for, which is for the people to know everything and to know everything first,” Trezise said.

Weekly public meetings and residential advisory committee gatherings over the coming months — starting with a 6:30 p.m. webinar on Tuesday, Oct. 27 — will dictate whether the organization advances its data center plan.

Public reaction on Facebook was immediate and mixed, with some area residents expressing outrage about the potential development while others welcomed the economic gains from a multi-billion dollar project.

Delhi Township Manager Tracy Miller issued a statement reiterating that local officials knew nothing about the proposal before Tuesday, and “have not, and will not, sign any non-disclosure agreements.”

LEAP has worked since 2024 to prepare the land, which is owned by a holding company associated with the rental housing developer DTN Management, for industrial redevelopment after winning a $6.5 million grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corp.’s Strategic Site Readiness Program.

Earlier this year, it began partnering with Lighthouse Sustainability , a company that aims to ready properties for sustainable and affordability-focused data center developments.

Lighthouse co-founder and CEO Gary Dorris called the proposal “something that could create tremendous value for this community if done right, and we think we’re doing this right by proceeding with engaging the community, listening, and adapting to what they want.”

LEAP has an option to buy the site, which is located just west of US Highway 127 in the unincorporated community of Holt. Project backers are targeting a roughly $10 billion project of up to 1-gigawatt, but would first need Delhi Township officials to rezone the property for industrial use.

The township this year imposed a 12-month data center moratorium that expires in April.

“We embrace and welcome that moratorium,” Trezise said, arguing it provides time for community input on any future land use application.

Lighthouse is a fairly new company and has not completed a data center project, but co-founder and Chief Financial Officer Paul Saferstein said the company has 2 gigawatts of projects in its pipeline.

No end user has been identified, he said, but company officials have fielded interest from multiple companies.

Organizers estimated tax revenue from a data center at the site would boost the local property tax base by roughly $53 million, while Lighthouse has committed roughly $20 million more to a community benefits fund. The facility would create roughly 1,000 temporary construction jobs and 100 full-time permanent jobs.

Lighthouse has vowed to power the facility with clean energy, a portion of which could come from area residents’ rooftops through an agreement by which a company called Resilience Energy would install, own and maintain solar panels and batteries on area homes, then sell the power output to Lighthouse. Officials claim the arrangement would lower participating residents’ energy bills by up to 50%.

The company has been in discussions with Consumers Energy about securing additional power, Dorr said, and intends to procure renewable energy to be “100% clean on an annual basis.” Plans also call for on-site battery storage.

Officials also committed to reducing noise disruption, building a closed-loop cooling system that uses minimal water, and paying full freight for the cost of their power.

The announcement of a data center proposal this early in the planning process represents a new approach.

Elsewhere in Michigan, developers have often kept plans secret, only unveiling them publicly when they were ready to submit land use applications. The lack of transparency has sparked a backlash from residents who argue they should have more say over large projects that could shape the future of their communities.

In the first quarter of 2026 alone, local opposition and other challenges blocked or delayed roughly $130 billion worth of data center projects across the nation.

Many residents in Michigan so far have been “blindsided by the scope, the speed and the lack of channels to have a voice in the decision-making” over data center projects, environmental justice organizer Michelle Martinez told Bridge Michigan during a recent data center panel at Bridge’s Issues Summit.

This story was originally published by Bridge Michigan and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.