Microsoft
Microsoft Fairwater campus on the former Foxconn land, Tax Increment District 5
development agreement, signed, approved 2023-03-30
Operator: Microsoft
Developer: Microsoft Corporation
Scale: 1,345 acres · 7,300,000,000 USD
Acreage is the total Microsoft would own after the November 2023 expansion package per WisBusiness; WPR reported 1,346 for the same package, and the county development corporation now lists 1,575 acres after a later purchase. The $7.3 billion figure is the county development corporation's stated planned investment and matches the $3.3 billion first building plus the $4 billion second building recorded in the TID 5 Joint Review Board report. A further $13.3 billion, 15 data centers and about 8.7 million sq ft (5.2 million on Durand Avenue, 3.5 million on International Drive) received site-plan approval on January 26, 2026. No megawatt figure appears in the agreements; WPR reported Microsoft told the January 2026 meeting the campuses would use roughly 2 gigawatts when fully developed, and WEC Energy Group has told investors it expects 2.6 gigawatts of new demand from Microsoft's I-94 corridor buildout.
Verification: from news reports
A strong version: A fund that scales with the project, with a community seat on the body that spends it
Not addressed in the agreement.
cadence: one time · scales with project: no
No standing community fund. The November 2023 package included $4,200,000 to restore approximately 1.5 miles of Lamparek Creek, $100,000 for water restoration projects throughout Racine County, and $200,000 in support for the United Way of Racine County, which used part of it to seed an Equity Through Technology Fund making $140,000 available to nonprofits. Whether these sit in the executed agreement or alongside it is not confirmed; the agreements are not posted.
A strong version: Incentives come back if the facility stops operating, not only if a jobs number is missed
triggers: investment, other
The village and county may repurchase the land at Microsoft's original per-acre price if Microsoft fails to commence construction by the stated deadlines, reported as not later than July 1, 2026 for phase 1 and July 1, 2033 for phase 2. Under the November 2023 expansion Microsoft must build a minimum of four buildings or repurchase rights activate, and guaranteed a minimum assessed value of $1.4 billion on its Areas II and III investments by January 1, 2028 (the Joint Review Board report states the guarantee as $1.4 billion by 2028). A village spokesperson said in 2026 that the value had already been surpassed. The make-up payment column in the TID cash flow belongs to the Area I (Foxconn) guarantee, not to Microsoft. Nothing is tied to the facility ceasing operation.
A strong version: A bond, escrow, or letter of credit that pays for teardown and site restoration if the operator walks
Nothing found in any source. The executed agreements are not posted.
A strong version: The operator pays for its own interconnection and carries a minimum bill that survives it leaving
interconnect paid by: shared · minimum bill: yes · survives exit: yes · term: 15 yrs · governed by: Wisconsin PSC decision in docket 6630-TE-113 (April 24, 2026; final May 21, 2026), We Energies very large customer tariff
The strongest tariff in this set, and it came from the regulator, not the village. The tariff is mandatory for customers with an aggregate load forecast of 100 MW or more and carries an initial term of 15 years. Customers must subscribe to bespoke resources; the commission refused to approve the proposed capacity-only option, under which non-participating customers would have covered 25 percent of facility costs and all fuel, leaving full-benefits resources (all costs, all attributes) as the only option. A minimum billing demand equals 100 percent of initially forecasted load or actual demand during the billing period, whichever is higher. Terminating after commercial operation means reimbursing the net book value of resources that cannot be repurposed. Financial security is required unless the customer holds ratings of at least A-minus from S&P and A3 from Moody's and meets a tangible net worth or liquidity test. What is still open: how network upgrade costs on the regional transmission system are allocated, which the commission told federal regulators in August 2026 still shifts large-load costs onto other wholesale customers.
A strong version: A stated cap or closed-loop cooling, plus public reporting
reporting: no · cooling: closed loop
Water comes from the Racine utility, drawn from Lake Michigan under a 2018 diversion approval of up to 7 million gallons a day. Records released only after a public-records lawsuit show a first-phase peak of 234,000 gallons a day or 2.8 million gallons a year, rising to a peak of 702,000 gallons a day or 8.4 million gallons annually with later phases; Microsoft repeated the 8.4 million gallon annual figure at the January 2026 site-plan meeting. Microsoft says more than 90 percent of the Mount Pleasant facility will use a closed-loop liquid cooling system that consumes no water for cooling. No cap or reporting requirement was found; advocates said the city took 210 days to fill their records request.
A strong version: A numeric limit measured at the nearest residence or property line
Governed by village ordinance rather than the deal; the ordinance text was not retrieved. Residents reported noise from cooling fans in spring 2026. Microsoft says it set mechanical operating limits to keep fan speeds in range and is installing additional sound reduction components on the cooling equipment. On July 1, 2026 three Sturtevant residents filed a class action in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin alleging that much of the low hum is low-frequency infrasound not captured by dBA measurements. The January 2026 site-plan approvals attached conditions on traffic studies, outdoor lighting, landscaping, and compliance with water rules; no sound-wall condition was confirmed.
A strong version: Binding job commitments with a consequence, not projections
Not addressed in the agreement.
enforceable: no
The agreements do not state how many people Microsoft will employ; the binding metric is assessed value, not jobs. Microsoft said in May 2026 it had hired around 375 people, and at the first building's completion in June 2026 reported nearly 550 full-time employees on site, growing to around 800 once the second building is fully operational. Microsoft said nearly 10,000 construction workers contributed over two years; no separate peak headcount was confirmed.
A strong version: Local subcontracting goals and haul-route road repair paid by the operator
Microsoft's land payments retired Foxconn-era public debt: the county refunding bonds tied to Areas II and III were defeased in 2023 with land sale revenue paid by Microsoft, and WPR reported the expansion required no additional borrowing by the village or the county. Proceeds of the original 2023 sale went to Foxconn as partial reimbursement of the funds it advanced in 2017 to acquire the land. No local-subcontracting or road-repair obligation was found.
A strong version: No NDA, the agreement is public, and an independent audit on a schedule
NDA: no · agreement public: no · dashboard: no · audit: none · independent: no
Mount Pleasant told Wisconsin Watch in response to a records request that it had not signed NDAs for its data centers. The agreements were approved in open meetings but are not posted online; the TID's annual reports are. Water projections were withheld until a lawsuit. The state regulator ordered We Energies to keep it apprised of transmission cost allocation developments and to report on the impact large-load network upgrades have on the transmission company's revenue requirement.
A strong version: A but-for test before any abatement, with the forgone revenue stated
abatement: 42% · years: 13 · PILOT: no · forgone: $115,000,000
No exemption from the tax roll, but a rebate of it. The March 2023 agreement lets Microsoft recoup 42 percent of the annual incremental property taxes on its improvements, not to exceed $5 million a year for the duration of the agreement and the district, and contingent on the village first meeting all other TID obligations. The November 2023 expansion was described as requiring no additional financial incentives, but the rebate was not withdrawn: the TID 5 cash flow projects developer incentives to Microsoft of $5,000,000 a year from 2027 through 2038 plus $55,000,000 in 2039, $115,000,000 in total. The only developer grant actually paid as of the 2024 state filing was $370,433 to Foxconn. Microsoft has said Wisconsin's sales and use tax exemption for data centers was one factor in choosing the site.
Three Sturtevant residents filed a federal class action in July 2026 over low-frequency noise from the first building. source
Water projections were released only after environmental groups sued for the records, 210 days after the request. source
Residents at the January 2026 site-plan hearing raised transparency, energy use, water consumption, electronic waste, and long-term employment concerns. source
Statewide opposition has grown: a Marquette Law School poll found 70 percent of Wisconsin voters thought data center costs outweigh benefits in February 2026, rising to 78 percent in August 2026. source