Roundhouse Data Center, Cascade Locks, Oregon

The Roundhouse data center, a $100 million project that the startup Roundhouse Digital Infrastructure pitched for the Port of Cascade Locks in Hood River County, Oregon, was cancelled in July 2023 after residents turned against it and voted out the port commissioners who backed it. The port and Roundhouse jointly announced on July 20, 2023 that they were ending the project, and new port manager Jeremiah Blue said: "We just didn't feel like there was enough public support to continue with it."

Roundhouse had sought a 25-year lease of the port's vacant 43,000-square-foot Flex 6 building and 10 nearby acres, planning $40 million in computers and upgrades there and $60 million for a new building, at 10 megawatts of power capacity. The port needed a tenant: it was paying $53,000 a month in loan payments and upkeep on Flex 6 after the previous tenant, a clothing company, walked away from its lease. "Things come and go, and we need to be diverse," port commission president Jess Groves said when the plan was announced.

Many residents worried about what the data center's power needs would mean for their future electricity supply, and about whether Roundhouse could deliver. "I personally think it's a power grab and a water grab and a land grab," resident Rachel Najjar said. Roundhouse was a new venture led by Stephen King, who had little experience in data hosting, had not raised the money for the project and had a history of business disputes with former partners, The Oregonian reported. In June 2023 voters recalled two port commissioners who had supported the data center, and two others who had backed negotiations lost re-election.

Cascade Locks is a scenic community about 40 miles up the Columbia River from Portland, and data centers have become one of Oregon's largest industries, drawn in large part by property tax breaks. Earlier attempts to diversify the port's economy, a casino and a Nestlé bottling plant, also failed in the face of opposition.

After the collapse, Blue said the port would "likely entertain anything in there that isn't a data center." By May 2025 the port's budget message reported that Flex 6 is now leased. The port, which owns the land, is governed by a five-member commission.