Microsoft is again expanding its landholdings around Des Moines, Iowa.
The Business Record reports Microsoft has acquired 377 acres of farmland in Van Meter’s Vision Park.
Van Meter is a city in Dallas County, Iowa, situated along the Raccoon River. It is located west of Des Moines and east of De Soto
County records suggest Microsoft acquired 188 acres from Ronald and Debra Gebhardt, paying them $21.49 million, or over $144,500 an acre. Microsoft paid Land Concepts LLC $94,785 an acre, or $10.9 million for 115 acres. It paid JD Ventures II LLC $106,000 an acre, or $7.5 million for 74 acres.
Van Meter’s city administrator and the executive director of the Greater Dallas County Development Alliance both confirmed to the publication that Microsoft plans to build a data center on the newly acquired land, located south of 360th Street.
According to the city’s website, Vision Park has been targeting data center projects since April 2014. The business park is also near an electrical substation and features transmission lines running through it.
“The Alliance has been marketing the site for technology infrastructure since its inception because of its ideal topography and proximity to the necessary utility infrastructure,” Rachel Wacker, executive director of the Greater Dallas County Development Alliance, told the Record. “The site has experienced significant interest over the years with a significant uptick this past year. We are delighted to be working with Microsoft as the end user.”
Microsoft already has a major presence around West Des Moines, with multiple campuses in operation or development.
The company recently acquired 111 acres in West Des Moines for a new data center development known as Project Ruthenium.
The Ruthenium site is located directly west of Microsoft’s existing Project Osmium campus and near an existing substation.
The Osmium site, on SW Kerry Street, was announced in 2016 and will span 1.7 million sq ft (158,000 sqm) of land once fully built out. The company was granted permission for a third of five buildings on the site in 2021 and permission for a fourth was granted last year.
Other Microsoft data center sites in the area in various stages of development include Project Ginger West, Project Ginger East, as well as Project Mountain, and Project Alluvion.
Project Ginger East will be located on about 130 acres south of Highway 5 and north of South County Line Road.
2022 also saw the company gain a permit in July for a data center at 3655 S.E. Soteria Ave. Issued to Microsoft contractor the Weitz Company, the permit was for an 184,600 sq ft facility under the description DSM 14. The plot is currently undeveloped land located close to the company’s future Project Ginger East location.
In the west of the city, Microsoft is developing on 180 acres south of 11100 Booneville Road for what is known as Project Ginger West. The company recently filed to construct two data center buildings at the site known as DSM 42 and 43.
Both Ginger East and West will each be about 1.8 million square feet (167,225 sqm) and each cost about $1 billion to develop.
Project Mountain, first announced in 2009 and expanded in 2011 and 2013, is a two-building campus on South 88th Street.
First announced in 2014, Project Alluvion is located on White Crane Road to the south of the Ginger East Site. It consists of eight buildings totaling more than one million sq ft (92,900 sqm).
