A proposed $120 million data center in downtown Lansing has divided neighbors, with some questioning whether the city needs such a large project while company officials tout community benefits.
- Community Split: Lansing neighbors are divided on a proposed $120 million downtown data center by UK company Deep Green.
- Company Claims: Deep Green promises no utility rate increases, minimal water use, and free community heat from the project.
- Next Steps: A city public hearing is scheduled for February despite ongoing resident skepticism.
UK-based company Deep Green hosted a listening session Saturday to address concerns about their proposed data center on Cedar Street. The session gave residents a chance to voice worries about potential noise, environmental impact and utility costs.
"I'm a little confused as to why we need this major, this big of a project being brought to our city," said Paula Simon, a Lansing resident since 1978. "Will it cost us?"
Luke Gavin, vice president of North American operations for Deep Green, said the company designed its approach to counter problems with traditional data centers.
"These massive huge mega-campuses take a lot of power, a lot of water, and they might be taking farmland," Gavin said. "They don't necessarily give back to the local community. Deep Green was built as a counter to that."
Gavin addressed residents' utility concerns by explaining what the data center would not do.
"What we're not doing is we're not increasing utility rates, we're not gonna be a drain on the water source," Gavin said. "We're turning a very un-utilized city parking lot which has been described a few times today to me as a complete eyesore, so we're transitioning that into an attractive building."
The proposed data center would be significantly smaller than typical large-scale projects, using about the same amount of water as a small restaurant, according to Gavin. The company also plans to offer heat reuse benefits to the community.
"All the heat that's generated from the data center we give back to the community for free in form of free heat," Gavin said.
Despite these assurances, Simon and some other Lansing neighbors remain skeptical about the project.
The approval process continues in February with a city public hearing.
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