(La Porte, IN) - Microsoft is continuing work behind the scenes toward future construction of a $1 billion data center on what’s historically been productive farmland in La Porte.
La Porte Economic Advancement Partnership Executive Director Bert Cook said Microsoft representatives have visited numerous times since a deal was struck in June to build the data center on close to 500 acres of farmland on Boyd Boulevard, just east of U.S. 35. Cook said their visits are standard procedure for getting any construction site approved and ready for ground breaking. The process includes doing all of the necessary work in areas like engineering to obtain building permits from the city and tap into existing water and sewer lines surrounding the site.
Northern Indiana Public Service Company has also been involved in the process to extend natural gas and electrical service to the parcel.
Cook said the hope is start construction on the projected 245,000-square-foot data center by late next year or early in 2026. Microsoft seems to be working to complete the long process quicker than originally anticipated.
“It’s a massive project so it takes quite a bit of time to get all of the details in line,” he said.
The project has been hailed as the largest economic development project in the city’s history and one that will have a noticeable lasting impact on the community of about 23,000 citizens. The center will create as many as 200 jobs by 2032 described as "high wage," and "high tech positions."
Microsoft committed to building the data center after the city council approved its request for a 40 year tax exemption strictly on the high tech equipment to be contained inside the facility. In exchange, Microsoft will refund as much as $2.5 million or 30 percent of its tax savings a year under the lifetime of the agreement. The funds will be divided between the city’s Redevelopment Commission and the La Porte School Corporation.
"It’s just an incredibly exciting project,” Cook said.
According to the La Porte County Assessor’s Office, Microsoft purchased all of the land from the previous owners in separate transactions in 2023 and early this year for a combined $20.8 million. The previous owners were listed as Rhoda Farms and CL Core Rhoda.
The transactions occurred in 2023 and early in 2024 after the land was annexed into the city at the request of the owners, who expressed a desire for their ground raising corn and soybeans to be redeveloped. During his State of the City speech Dec. 9, Mayor Tom Dermody said the landing of Microsoft mirrored his administration’s three guiding principles of “setting high standards, competing with and for the best and expecting to win.”
“When people asked if we ever thought Microsoft would come to La Porte, our answer was yes,” he said.
Cook said working with the Microsoft representatives as they move through the process has been a pleasure and a great opportunity for him, personally.
“Microsoft has been one of the best companies to deal with, incredibly community minded and I think aware and cognizant of the impact their project has on a community like ours,” he said.
About six months ago, Microsoft also purchased more than 900 acres of farm land for a reported $77 million near Granger. That land, still in production, was rezoned from agriculture to industrial to make it eligible for a data center. So far, Microsoft has not made any commitments yet to build a data center at that location.
