Consumers Energy media relations specialist Matt Johnson spoke with reporters at Microsoft's informational open house about a proposed data center in Gaines Charter Township, March 3, 2026, at the Kindred Event Center.Photo: Photos taken by James Gemmell.
GAINES CHARTER TOWNSHIP, Mich. -- Residents in Gaines Charter Township have gotten an opportunity to meet with Microsoft officials regarding the global technology company's preliminary plans for a proposed data center.
Microsoft hosted an informational open house in the Kindred Event Center at 3449 76th St. in the Caledonia area of the township on Tuesday evening, March 3. It ran from 4 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Topics of discussion included energy and water use, job creation, sustainability and community benefits.
The event was well attended, with steady crowds filtering in and out.
Members of the media were told they would not be able to interview any Microsoft officials at the event, and photo-taking was restricted to a small, designated area of the large event room. Microsoft greeters said that was because the open house was for the community.
However, Consumers Energy media relations specialist Matt Johnson met with the media. He said Consumers has an ample energy supply to meet the demand of potential data centers in Michigan and the companies that build them:
“Frankly, one of the reasons they’re so interested in locating in Michigan is because we do have that infrastructure and the supply to be able to meet their needs,” Johnson told WOOD Radio News at the open house. “So, I think meetings like this are great because it allows us an opportunity to speak to the public and answer some of the questions people might have about energy and these projects.”
In November, Michigan Public Service Commission approved new tariff rules for Consumers Energy that the company requested. They require the owners of data centers and large-load customers that use 100 megawatts or more to pay for all transmission, distribution and generation costs in Consumers Energy’s territory. The MPSC said those requirements will ensure that ratepayers will not have to absorb the costs.
Johnson was asked about whether residents will have to worry about their energy bills going up once more data centers go online in West Michigan.
“We are committed to affordability in addressing the concerns that people have about their bills,” he replied. “And we have a lot of protections and programs available to help people who are struggling to pay their bills. We realize that, just like the price of groceries, the price of energy has gone up incrementally over time.
Although an exact date has not been determined, Township Manager Rod Weersing said he anticipates the Gaines Planning Commission will hold a special meeting sometime in April to consider Microsoft’s request for a 40.5-acre parcel it owns at 7147 Patterson Avenue to be rezoned from a large-scale planned unit development to a light industrial designation.
That is how the township future-zoned the property, which is just south of the Amazon Fulfillment Center on 68th Street. The undeveloped property is north of a 316-acre site Microsoft purchased from Steelcase for $45.3 million in 2024 on Patterson Avenue at 76th Street.
The township’s original public hearing on the rezoning request was postponed by Gaines planning commissioners at their December 18, 2025, meeting due to what the township attorney and deputy fire marshal said was an overcapacity problem in the township hall. They estimated that more than 250 people tried to pack into the boardroom.
A special meeting to hear the rezoning request was later scheduled for February 12 in the South Christian High School auditorium, but Microsoft requested in a late-January email to the township staff that that meeting be postponed, as well.
It said it was still developing plans for the size, scope and design of the project and wanted to incorporate community feedback into its plans. That was the reason Microsoft cited for holding Tuesday’s open house at the Kindred Event Center, which is about 2.5 miles from where the data center might be built. It would be located about four miles south of the Switch Inc. data center pyramid campus that is located at 6100 East Paris Ave.
Microsoft also purchased 274 acres in 2024 in Allegan County’s Dorr Township, on 144th Avenue between US-131 and 14th Street. And it was publicly disclosed in early January that it was the company proposing to build a $1 billion data center in Lowell Charter Township, although it paused the formal application process for rezoning a 237-acre industrial parcel in the Covenant Business Park at 4687 Alden Nash Ave.
Microsoft will hold another informational open house at The Fairway of Kent County Event Center at 13955 Cascade Road in Lowell Township, on Thursday, March 5, from 4 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
###