Residents push back on proposed data facility at former Milwaukee Walmart

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About 100 community members joined developers and city officials inside the former Walmart at 5825 W. Hope Ave in Milwaukee. Alderman Mark Chambers of District 2 called the meeting to give residents a closer look at the development. The heavy humidity inside added to the tension as residents shared their opposition to the project. The development will include a data processing and computer research facility in the building’s rear and self-service storage, taking up most of the building. Many residents opposed both. The city of Milwaukee says those commercial uses are contingent on first developing housing and greenspaces nearby. #wisconsinwatch #milwaukeenns #datacenter #milwaukee
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About 100 community members joined developers and city officials Wednesday inside the long-vacant former Midtown Walmart at 5825 W. Hope Ave. in Milwaukee. Ald. Mark Chambers called the meeting to give residents a closer look at redevelopment plans for the site. Heavy humidity inside the building added to the tension as residents voiced opposition to parts of the proposal.

Supporters say the project offers a realistic path to redeveloping a property that has sat empty for a decade. Opponents argue the site should prioritize housing and community uses over storage and technology infrastructure. City officials say the commercial components cannot move forward unless affordable housing and green space are developed first.

As Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service previously reported, most of the 160,000-square-foot former Walmart is proposed to be a climate-controlled, self-service storage facility, with additional spaces in the front for a new location for the Capitol branch of the Milwaukee Public Library and other community space that could be used by the city of Milwaukee.

Meanwhile, up to 19,000 square feet would be used for a data processing/computer services/computer research facility, according to project documents. The City Plan Commission approved an affordable housing project in the parking lot north of the building in April.

“The property has been vacant for 10 years,” said Chambers Wednesday over shouts from the crowd. “This is finally an opportunity … to finally turn a once-blighted property into something that is valuable to the community.”

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Trent Overhue, the property owner and developer, said he’s been trying to develop the site for four years. “I can’t get anybody to come in here.”

City officials and developers emphasized that this wasn’t a data center like the massive one in Port Washington or other hyperscale AI data centers.

Calling it “a little bitty facility,” Overhue said the proposed IT center would require 7 megawatts of power.

For comparison, Meta’s planned data center campus in Beaver Dam is expected to use 220 megawatts at peak demand — less than half the projected power use of the large campuses planned in Mount Pleasant and Port Washington. One megawatt of energy can power anywhere from a few hundred to a thousand homes a day, depending on where, when and how electricity is used.

Resident Kellie Momon said she’s “elated” by plans for a library, makerspace and affordable housing in the area.

“But why do we have to have storage taking up so much of that space that could be used for more affordable housing — more community things?” she said. “Why is that even part of the plan? Why do we have to have a data center?”

Meredith Melland contributed to this report.