Data centers in Oakland County, Michigan: 3 projects mapped

Imagery: Esri, Maxar

In Lyon Township, Verrus is building Project Flex, a six-building, 1.8-million-square-foot data center on 172 acres already zoned industrial; the planning commission gave it conditional approval on September 8, 2025, its first meeting on the project. In Rochester, Oakland University's board voted on June 30, 2026 to move a data center proposal from Fairmount Properties into "due diligence," on a site next to a campus parking lot. In Southfield, the City Council voted 5-2 in December 2025 to approve a 100-megawatt data center for Los Angeles-based Metrobloks near Inkster Road and I-696.

Lyon Township residents have pushed back hard. Outside reviewers found Verrus's sound study inadequate and raised fire-access and battery-storage concerns near Dolsen Elementary School, and resident Melisa Noble said a 120-kilovolt transmission line in later documents was not in the plans commissioners approved. The Oakland County Election Commission approved language on April 27, 2026 for a recall of all seven township trustees; no result on that recall has been published. The township has since paused new applications, though not Project Flex, and extended that pause six months in August.

Oakland University moved its planned site after concerns it was too close to a Native American heritage site, and the data center would include office space for the university's AI Institute. In Southfield, Council President Charles Hicks voted no, saying, "I'm just concerned there's too many unknowns, not enough fact based information to make a good decision," while Coretta Houge backed it: "We have to consider new technologies."

Every project above is drawn from public records, filings and local reporting. Each row links to what it is based on. Statuses change, so check the source date before you rely on one. Found something wrong? Write to [email protected] and it gets fixed.