AFS Milwaukee Midtown Data Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Affordable Family Storage (AFS) withdrew its planned computing facility, widely called the AFS Milwaukee Midtown data center, from the former Walmart at 5825 W. Hope Ave. in Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, on July 1, 2026, after weeks of opposition. Without it, the City Plan Commission unanimously cleared the rest of the redevelopment on July 20: indoor self-storage, a new Capitol Library branch, community space and about 200 affordable apartments on the parking lot.

The plan put a 19,000-square-foot "computer research facility" in the rear of the 160,000-square-foot store, vacant since 2016, beside the self-storage. AFS co-owner Trent Overhue said it would run at an IT load of roughly seven megawatts plus about two megawatts of cooling, use a closed-loop system consuming less than five gallons of water a day, and serve tenants such as medical research firms. "You'll never know that we would exist in the back of this building," Overhue said.

Residents were not persuaded. About 100 people came to a June meeting inside the empty store, and resident Kellie Momon, pleased by the library and housing, asked: "Why do we have to have a data center?" At a June 29 hearing that ran six and a half hours, several dozen speakers, many from the Party for Socialism and Liberation, opposed it; "You can call it whatever you want. It's still a data center," said Samantha Doucas. Opponents raised energy use, environmental impact, the outreach process and whether a majority-Black neighborhood was being asked to take a facility that would not be put elsewhere. The commission, unable to agree on conditions, held the matter over.

Announcing the change, Ald. Mark Chambers Jr., who had backed the wider deal, said: "The decision to remove the computing research facility reflects what can happen when residents engage, local government listens, and all parties remain willing to find common ground." City Development Commissioner Lafayette Crump said the computing use would have produced three to five times more property tax per square foot than storage, and Overhue called losing it a "major loss" for his firm. Overhue is pursuing a larger data center in his home state of Missouri through Lumon Solutions. At the July 20 meeting Chambers accused opponents of spreading misinformation: "There is a difference between advocating for a community and speaking over one."

Milwaukee has data center zoning rules pending, and the city attorney has told the council it cannot impose a moratorium because of changes in case law. Elsewhere in Wisconsin, Microsoft is building in Mount Pleasant, and large campuses are planned in Port Washington and, for Meta, Beaver Dam.

The data center part of the Midtown plan is gone; any attempt to add computing back would need new zoning approval. The public can comment again when the library and community space designs come to the City Plan Commission, and the housing's tax incremental financing awaits the Milwaukee Common Council.