Microsoft Project Nova (Caledonia) data center, Caledonia, Wisconsin

Microsoft withdrew its Project Nova data center plan for 244 acres in Caledonia, Racine County, Wisconsin, in October 2025, days before the village board was due to vote, after more than 2,000 people signed a petition against the rezoning. "Based on the community feedback we heard, we have chosen not to move forward with this site," a Microsoft spokesperson said of the Caledonia data center.

The site, on County Line Road and State Highway 32 southwest of We Energies' Oak Creek Power Plant, was surrounded by farmland and homes. Microsoft needed the land rezoned from agriculture to a light manufacturing and office district; the village plan commission approved the rezoning in September 2025, and the Village Board was to take it up on October 14. The company expected 40 to 50 jobs after construction. County Executive Ralph Malicki said Microsoft had not sought local development incentives for the site.

At the plan commission in September, 40 of the 49 people who spoke opposed the plan, worried about noise, air quality, electric bills and how few jobs it would bring. "Why do we have to subsidize a company making billions of dollars a year?" resident Mike Kirchner asked. Village Trustee Fran Martin said the board was being asked to approve the zoning without enough detail: "And why it was done in such a secretive fashion and then rushed forward is not clear to me." Trustee Nancy Pierce, who voted against the rezoning on the plan commission, said she learned of the withdrawal from a media report.

Village President Tom Weatherston said he was disappointed: "We want Microsoft here." A Microsoft spokesperson said the withdrawal did not affect its other Wisconsin projects in Mount Pleasant and Kenosha.

Microsoft and Racine County officials said they would look for another site in the county, possibly in Caledonia, and Pierce said she had asked about alternatives including the former South Hills Golf Course property and land near Seven Mile Road. By January 2026, Prescott Balch, who played a key role in the Caledonia opposition, was sharing what he learned with communities across Wisconsin and around the country, Spectrum News reported.