Technology Microsoft plans Data Center Campus on a Wisconsin pumpkin farm

vtqhtr413 · Dec 26, 2023

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A Wisconsin family has agreed to sell 407 acres of their land, which includes a local pumpkin farm attraction, to Microsoft — for a total of $76 million, reported the Milwaukee Business Journal. The local government initially offered the Creuziger family in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin about a third of that sum in 2017 as a part of an agreement with the Foxconn Technology Group. But the family refused, opting to hold out for a better offer.

Microsoft’s payout is significantly larger than the land’s current valuation. The Creuziger family’s land was originally valued at $174,200 in 2023, but then rose to $598,400 after making improvements, Mount Pleasant’s village assessor Dan McHugh told The Verge.

The land, which also includes the Land of the Giants pumpkin farm and a nine-acre corn maze, neighbors another 641 acres of land purchased by Microsoft from the village of Mount Pleasant — for a total of $99.7 million. The end goal for Microsoft is to build a data center campus in the area, in which it plans to invest over $1 billion.