• Plans include three data center buildings on 282 acres east of Haggerty Road and north of I-94 North Service Drive.
• Site design and infrastructure will be laid out to support future expansion
• Township trustees to make final decision on preliminary site plan approval

The Van Buren Township Planning Commission of Michigan Feb. 11 recommended approval of a preliminary site plan approval for a 1 GW+ data center campus proposed by commercial real estate company Panattoni.

After a contentious meeting with significant public opposition, commissioners voted 5-2 to advance the project to the township board at a date that has yet to be announced.

Plans for the project, Project Cannoli, include the construction of three data centers, an administrative office, a network service building and a future DTE Energy substation on a 282.2-acre site east of Haggerty Road and north of I-94 North Service Drive, according to township filings.

The multi-parcel site, owned by Triple Creek Associates LLC, is split-zoned, with the majority located in the M-1 Light Industrial District – where data centers are permitted by right – and frontage in the C-1 General Business District. The campus layout and infrastructure are designed to support future expansion.

Additionally, approximately 130 acres of the site are set to be preserved as green space.

The project’s estimated 1 GW or more of power demand is to be provided by DTE Energy, with two 345 kV transmission lines feeding the new on-site substation.

According to a DTE letter to the township, the developer is responsible for infrastructure upgrade costs. The substation is set to be located in the C-1 portion of the property and will require separate site plan approval by DTE.

The campus is estimated to use between 2 and 3.6 million gallons of water per day, and Great Lakes Water Authority will be the service provider.

The data centers will be cooled with an open-loop system for one building and closed-loop or forced-air systems for the other two.

At full buildout, Project Cannoli is expected to create more than 50 permanent jobs.

According to the township, officials have been in discussions with Panattoni about the property since early 2024 and began conversations specifically about a data center development for a specific end user – the developer identified as a Fortune 50 company with data center operations worldwide – in the summer of 2025. Formal submission occurred at the end of 2025.

Panattoni’s data center team has delivered or developed more than 10.2 GW of capacity globally, with approximately 3 GW currently under development, and has worked with multiple hyperscale technology companies, according to the developer.

The developer did not respond to requests for comment.

Across the state, NPM is tracking 22 data center projects in counties including Wayne, Kent, Monroe and Oakland.

*This story was originally published exclusively for NPM subscribers.