Tract Norwalk Data Center Park (Project West)

Timeline from the record

Newest first. Record entries come from the filings and reports the registry cites. Coverage entries are headlines from publisher feeds we monitor daily, linked to the outlet; last checked September 14, 2026.

1. March 5, 2026

   Proposed
   Norwalk City Council approved a site development agreement with Tract for a 282-acre site west of Highway 28 and south of Delaware Street. The city stressed the vote does not itself approve a data center; a future operator would need separate city, state and federal review. Source: City of Norwalk, Iowa

Opposition and litigation at this site

Yes. Tract Norwalk Data Center Park (Project West) in Norwalk, Warren County, Iowa is contested. Hearings, public comment, petitions, or organized opposition are on record, and no lawsuit has been filed so far. City hall and a library overflow room were packed for the March 5, 2026 hearing, with more than two hours of public comment focused on water sustainability and environmental impact; the council approved the agreement unanimously with one member absent.

How the community has taken it

Reception is a sourced signal, not an editorial judgment: contested means active public debate is on record, with hearings, petitions, or organized opposition, without litigation.

City hall and a library overflow room were packed for the March 5, 2026 hearing, with more than two hours of public comment focused on water sustainability and environmental impact; the council approved the agreement unanimously with one member absent.

Source: Indianola Record-Herald

Power and water

The city's site development agreement dedicates 400,000 gallons per day of water capacity to the developer, against a planned industrial reserve of 650,000 gpd.

Notes on the record

Tract is a master-planned data center park developer; it buys, entitles and powers land rather than operating data centers itself, so the eventual operator is not yet named. The city projects roughly $5 million a year in new city property tax revenue ($15 million across all taxing entities) and says no tax incentives were offered, only a waiver of sanitary sewer district fees. Local reporting cites a roughly $12 billion eventual campus investment; that figure is a city expectation for a future, unnamed operator rather than a committed site-level investment, so it is not recorded as investmentUsd.

Other sites within 30 miles

Distances are between recorded coordinates, many of which are a city or county centroid, so treat them as approximate. Cumulative load on one utility and one aquifer is the question a planning commission rarely asks.

• Microsoft Project Alluvion Data Center · West Des Moines · Microsoft4 mi · Operating
• Microsoft Project Ginger East Data Center · West Des Moines · Microsoft4 mi · Under construction
• Microsoft Project Osmium Data Center · West Des Moines · Microsoft5 mi · Under construction
• Microsoft Project Ruthenium Data Center · West Des Moines · Microsoft6 mi · Proposed
• Microsoft Project Ginger West Data Center · West Des Moines · Microsoft8 mi · Under construction · Mixed reception
• Microsoft Project Mountain Data Center · West Des Moines · Microsoft8 mi · Operating
• Aureon 616 Data Center · Des Moines · Aureon9 mi · Operating
• Oppidan Des Moines Data Center · Des Moines · Oppidan9 mi · Operating · 5 MW

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