(La Porte, IN) - A deal has been struck for Microsoft to build and operate a data center in La Porte.
Microsoft will invest $1 billion into what will be a 245,000-square-foot facility on Boyd Boulevard just east of U.S. 35. The roughly 500-acre site, which has been farmland, was acquired by Microsoft after the city annexed the property at the request of the former landowners. Up to 200 people will be employed there by the end of 2032 in high-wage, high-tech positions.
Monday night, the La Porte City Council unanimously approved a 40-year tax exemption on the high-tech equipment to be contained inside the facility. In exchange, as much as $2.5 million dollars in tax savings will be given to the city’s redevelopment commission and the school corporation each year for 40 years.
Councilman Tim Franke had this to say about what was billed as the largest economic development project in the history of the city.
“It’s massive for the City of La Porte. The jobs are all going to be quality, high paying jobs which is something we can’t have enough of,” Franke said.
Franke also indicated that what the redevelopment commission and school corporation can do with the additional revenue will be a “game changer for us.”
“Wow. Changing our future direction. This is amazing,” said Mayor Tom Dermody.
La Porte Economic Advancement Partnership Executive Director Bert Cook said landing Microsoft definitely furthers the change the city has been pushing for since Mayor Tom Dermody took office in 2020. He believes other companies and residents will be attracted to La Porte just from having a world-renowned company like Microsoft in the community.
“It really signals that La Porte is a community that’s growing and it is a place where people want to be. For any of those other businesses or residents who are looking for a community to locate in, they should be looking in La Porte and we’re excited about that,” Cook said.
Governor Eric Holcomb said the data center will accelerate cloud computing infrastructure to support growth in technology and artificial intelligence.
“As a state, we’ve built a pro-growth business climate and implemented a future-focused framework to attract major investments in high-tech, high-growth sectors. We’re excited to welcome Microsoft’s new data center to Indiana and look forward to the incredible value added impact this will have on our statewide data driven ecosystem, new career opportunities, specifically the greater northwest Indiana community,” he said.
Cook said the timetable for construction has not been set but should begin in the near future.
"We'll see construction in the very near term. It's not something that is 10-years out," he said.
