Janesville Moves Forward With Data Center Plans
Council approves letter of intent despite residents speaking out against idea.
The former Janesville GM Assembly Plant on Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025, in Janesville, Wis. Angela Major/WPR
Janesville is the latest Wisconsin community to consider plans for a data center development.
Viridian will now evaluate an 11-building data center campus or an eight-building hyperscale campus for the site. The project is expected to need up to 800 megawatts of power.
The council’s decision came after more than 20 residents spoke out against the proposal during a public hearing Monday. Other data center projects around the state have also been met with opposition from the public.
A sign advocating against a proposed data center is displayed in the lawn of a home located across the street from the former Janesville GM Assembly Plant on Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025, in Janesville, Wis. Angela Major/WPR
“If data centers are so great, then why are so many communities fighting them?” said Janesville resident Julie Backenkeller, who asked the council to delay the vote.
“Don’t believe the hype these data center folks are feeding us,” Lambert said.
“This council ought to listen to the overwhelming voices of the people and reject this data center project,” he said.
Janesville resident Cassandra Pope raised concerns about the environmental impact and the negative impact on people who would live next to the property.
“I don’t trust these big, billion dollar corporations, and I don’t trust our city government to hold these corporations accountable,” Pope said.
Grass grows through cracks in concrete at the site of the former General Motors assembly plant Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Janesville, Wis. Angela Major/WPR
The project would have an estimated direct economic impact of $2.05 billion for the state, according to a a memo from Janesville Economic Development Director Jimsi Kuborn. The end user of the campus has not been disclosed.
Erik Zitek, the director of development for Viridian, said the total investment in the campus would be over $8 billion. He said the project could create 1,200 construction jobs and the campus could employ 600 people.
In the 1970s, the GM Assembly Plant employed 7,000 people.
“We’re at the one-yard line,” Zitek said. “This is the first of hopefully many meetings. But this is something that is not going to happen overnight.”
The letter of intent is “non-binding and does not obligate the City to sell the property or provide financial participation at this stage,” according to Kuborn’s memo.
“Instead, it formalizes a mutual intent to negotiate in good faith and authorizes Viridian to proceed with due diligence, site planning, and utility coordination,” Kuborn wrote in the memo. “The City retains full discretion to review and approve any subsequent agreements or land conveyance actions.”
The memo says the city has 120 days to work through any negotiations with the developer.
The site of the former General Motors assembly plant remains empty Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Janesville, Wis. The plant was closed in 2008 and demolition was completed in 2019. Angela Major/WPR
Claire Gray, the director of policy and strategic initiatives at Forward Janesville, said the site holds “enormous potential.” She urged the council to vote for the letter of intent.
Max Ryan, with the Janesville-based contractor company Ryan Incorporated Central, said his company has worked on other data center projects.
“I can confirm the construction boom of a project of this size,” Ryan said. “The trades workers will be very busy — restaurants, caterers, hotels.”
Before the vote Monday, Ryan urged the city to “get firm commitments from them (Viridian) and enforceable agreements.”
The council voted 5-2 to approve the letter of intent. Janesville City Council member Heather Miller voted no, citing public health concerns for people who live near the campus.
A neighborhood located near the former Janesville GM Assembly Plant where a data center has been proposed Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025, in Janesville, Wis. Angela Major/WPR
“Without being able to have input from someone about public health makes me concerned for the residents that surround this property,” Miller said. “And so I’m not convinced that we’re in the right place to do this LOI at this time based on public health.”
The data center proposal in Janesville is the latest in Wisconsin, with others planned in Mount Pleasant, Port Washington, Beaver Dam, Dane County and Kenosha. A state bill introduced last week seeks to place guardrails on data center proposals to protect Wisconsin residents.
A Microsoft data center on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in West Des Moines, Iowa. Angela Major/WPR
Janesville moves forward with data center plans for abandoned GM site was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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With tech billionaires and their companies pushing to develop these data centers, communities need to go slow to see what the impact might be. A recent article in the Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel by Claudia Levens laid out much of the behind the scenes politics and looked at the impact it could have on quality of life in Port Washington and the questionable economic benefits. The AI bubble will collapse at some point and just might leave communities with vacant buildings and infrastructure bills that they have to pay.