By Mark Anderson | Lansing News Wire
DOWAGIAC, Mich. — A June 26 afternoon attempt by this Lansing News Wire reporter to get a reasonably close look at an operational data center in Dowagiac, at 415 E. Prairie Ronde Street, was foiled by the facility’s unexpectedly high level of security.
This data center—operated by a subsidiarity of Las Vegas-based Hyperscale Data Inc.—takes up a large portion of an industrial zone in Dowagiac, a city of about 6,000 people in Cass County in southwest Michigan.Its operations have sparked considerable controversy.
Public concerns about this data center mainly involve complaints about excessive noise. Unusually high water and power usage are common concerns about data centers in general.
In fact, there is an active class-action noise lawsuit against this Dowagiac facility. It’s being carried out by the class-action litigation law firm, Liddle Sheets P.C., based in Detroit at 975 E. Jefferson Avenue.
PUBLIC MEETING JULY 13
Accordingly, a Dowagiac City Council meeting to hear concerns about the data center, as this report was being written, was scheduled for Monday, July 13 at the Dowagiac Middle School Performing Arts Center at 57072 Riverside Drive.
It’s set to begin at 6 p.m. A large turnout is expected.
Hyperscale is described as a “data center and crypto-currency mining company,” according to various news sources. Such data centers are generally assumed to be warehouses packed with servers for cloud computing and artificial intelligence.
Hyperscale’s subsidiarity behind the Dowagiac data center’s establishment is Alliance Cloud Services, LLC.
REPORTER NOT WELCOME
As this Lansing News Wire reporter shot a one-minute video of the spacious-looking Dowagiac data facility, along with a few still-frame photos, it was immediately clear that a constant semi-loud hum emanated from this data center, whose design consists of a dark metal exterior with a stark, utilitarian appearance.
A staff worker soon approached this reporter’s vehicle and claimed this brief news-gathering visit to the outer edge of the center’s grounds constituted trespassing.
It turned out that small, red-on-white “no trespassing” signs—which were somewhat tattered and wrinkled, and barely noticeable—were wrapped on the curved surfaces of some utility poles on Prairie Ronde Street alongside the industrial park where the center is located.
This reporter, upon gaining an understanding of the situation, promptly agreed to depart from a fully-open, unmanned access drive that led to the data center, which lacked any formal, obvious signage to forbid trespassing.
At any rate, this reporter then moved to a nearby place close to the center’s main entrance—but well outside the data center’s property line—to shoot one more short video (51 seconds).
No camera tripods were used, nor was any other equipment utilized, other than a cellphone camera.
That same data center staff worker, who warned that security personnel may arrest trespassers and were on their way to confront this reporter, claimed the unmarked access drive was for deliveries.
However, there was no evident signage indicating that the access drive is used in that fashion.
Notably, when that last video was finished, security officers were approaching and were visibly intent on stopping this short, unobtrusive news visit.
But by the time they reached the street, this reporter had pulled away and left the area. [They could be seen taking photos of the Lansing News Wire reporter’s vehicle].
MAJOR GROWTH PLANS, DISCLOSURE ISSUES
Interestingly, Hyperscale Data recently announced plans to beef up its Michigan campus from 30 megawatts to 340 megawatts, which is apparently enough to power about 200,000 to 300,000 homes.
The expansion, part of a push to serve AI and machine-learning workloads, is expected to be completed by 2029. Some phases may be done by 2027.Alliance Cloud Services, LLC purchased the Dowagiac facility for $3.8 million in 2021, according to Cass County records.
The data center there is reportedly being transitioned from Bitcoin mining to support growing AI and high-performance computing needs.
Dowagiac officials evidently have not signed any non-disclosure agreements with Hyperscale Data / Alliance Cloud Services, although data centers elsewhere have required them, prompting concerns about transparency and inside-dealing.“At 340 megawatts, the Dowagiac data center would be a lot smaller than the 1,400-megawatt project for ChatGPT creator OpenAI and cloud computing giant Oracle under construction in Saline Township, south of Ann Arbor, or the proposed data center for Google in Wayne County’s Van Buren Township, rated at 1,000 megawatts,” mLive online reported.
Unlike many other large-scale data center proposals popping up in Michigan on farmland or undeveloped parcels, the Dowagiac center uses an existing industrial building.
Raul Garcia