Ald. Mark Chambers Attempts To Set Record Straight About Midtown ‘Data Center’

Vacant Wal-Mart at 5825 W. Hope Ave. Photo by Alison Peterson.

The redevelopment of the former Walmart at the Midtown Center retail complex has been pulled from next week’s City Plan Commission agenda after a wave of public concern and online speculation over a proposed “data center” component.

In a statement released Thursday afternoon, area Ald. Mark Chambers, Jr. sought to tamp down fears that the project would resemble the sprawling, resource-intensive data center campuses that have sparked controversy elsewhere in Wisconsin.

“‘Data centers’ are a couple of very bad words these days,” said Chambers. “They conjure images of gray buildings covering thousands of acres, creating nuisance levels of noise and taxing local water supplies and other resources. The development proposed for the Midtown Center includes nothing even close.”

The proposal, filed by Affordable Family Storage (AFS), calls for converting a portion of the vacant former Walmart, 5825 W. Hope Ave., into a 19,000-square-foot “data processing/computer services/computer research facility” alongside an indoor self-storage facility, a new Capitol Library branch and space for another future tenant. In April, the plan commission approved a proposal to redevelop the parking lot into 200 affordable apartments and an outdoor play space.

Social media activity surrounding the project intensified in recent days after the Sherman Park Community Association circulated an image, since removed, depicting a massive data center campus covering the entire 663,000-square-foot Walmart property. But the proposed computing facility would occupy only a fraction of the existing 160,000-square-foot building, with the actual footprint only slightly larger than the “R” in the word “Center” on the association’s image.

Still, the proposal landed amid heightened statewide scrutiny of data center development. Massive, multi-billion-dollar projects in communities including Mount Pleasant, Port Washington and Beaver Dam have fueled concerns about energy consumption, water usage, backup generators and noise impacts. The Milwaukee proposal is about 1% of the size of the first-phase Microsoft facility that just went online in Mount Pleasant.

Chambers said the Midtown proposal would be substantially smaller and would use a closed-loop cooling system that “will be entirely self-sustaining and require no water from the local supply.”

“Despite all this, I know that residents have not received nearly enough information about this proposal and, for that reason, it will not be heard at Monday’s City Plan Commission meeting,” Chambers said.

The alderman said he wants additional information available before the proposal advances and plans to seek neighborhood input before making a decision.

“One thing is certain, no matter what is proposed: I will ensure that parameters are in place to prevent noise and air quality impacts on neighbors,” he said.

The broader redevelopment proposal, which would preserve the Walmart building, also includes a 17,000-square-foot replacement for the Capitol Library branch, outdoor community space in the former garden center and a separate 31,000-square-foot commercial space for a future tenant selected by the city.

The plan commission, at Chambers and the Department of City Development‘s suggestion, rejected AFS’s plan for a self-storage dominated proposal in 2023. Chambers has been a vocal advocate for finding a long-term solution for the Walmart property and surrounding shopping center that the community would support.

The Walmart store closed in 2016.

DCD is also attempting to shift focus on the proposal.

“The current proposal does not call for a large-scale data center. The proposed computer-related use is approximately one-twelfth of the former Walmart building floor space. The proposal for the potential data processing is limited to no more than 19,000 square feet, versus data center proposals that involve multiple buildings of 100,000+ square feet over hundreds of acres. To date, the terminology used by the applicant has not been ‘data center,’” said the department in a statement. “The primary focus of the overall development remains housing and a library, which are the central community benefits. We are seeking additional clarification and details from the applicant regarding the technology-related portion of the proposal. We will share additional information as it becomes available to us to keep both the public and elected officials updated.”

Developer never calls it a data center, is it?

A full-page explanation of the new computing hub never uses the phrase “data center,” but the description of the facility bears several similarities to smaller data centers commonly built before the proliferation of massive, AI-driven data center campuses.

“The Data Processing/Computer Services/Computer research facility will be for High Performance Computing, inclusive of on-site research activity. The space will consist of a mix of office/work areas along with a dedicated equipment room supporting the research functions. This use will consist of offices for engineers and technicians and then a lab that will house equipment that will run various research models,” says the filing. “The computing equipment is utilized as a tool to perform computational research and modeling, similar to how specialized equipment is used in a traditional laboratory setting. All equipment is contained within the building and does not involve industrial machinery, manufacturing processes.”

Milwaukee is dotted with several small data centers, including many in downtown high-rises and in single-story buildings throughout the city. The smaller facilities were commonly built by companies to manage their data storage needs before the proliferation of cloud-based services.

But, consistent with large data centers, the project narrative includes references to two external components that often raise concerns from nearby residents: cooling equipment and backup generators.

“As part of this use, there will be additional air-handling equipment associated with the cooling systems. These will operate at noise levels comparable to standard commercial HVAC units. All equipment will be located at the rear of the property, facing other commercial retail, and will be properly screened and secured. As a result, there should be little to no impact from a noise or visibility standpoint. The Milwaukee Code of Ordinances regulations with respect to allowable noise levels will apply,” says the filing. “Backup generators, which would only be utilized in the event of a power outage, will be positioned in the same rear location and behind the same screening.”

The data center, according to a site diagram, would be located as far as possible from N. 60th Street and nearby residential properties.

Walmart site plan. Image submitted to CPC by KORB.

Inaccurate data center image circulated by Sherman Park Community Association. Screenshot.

UPDATE: The story has been updated to clarify that the statement was released Thursday, not Wednesday.

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