Crane PDX01 data center, Forest Grove, Oregon

Crane Data Centers broke ground in July 2025 on a two-building, 100-megawatt data center campus on a 35-acre field at 3975 Heather Street in Forest Grove, Washington County, Oregon, bordered by houses on two sides and across the street from Neil Armstrong Middle School. The first building, 180,000 square feet and 40 feet tall, was due to finish in 2026; no update on its completion has been published since. A second building of 363,000 square feet, up to 75 feet tall, would follow.

Crane, a San Francisco startup building its first data center, switched from evaporative to air cooling after residents raised concerns about water use, and its financial backer is Principal Asset Management. Forest Grove Light & Power Director Keith Hormann said the first building would start at about 8 megawatts and rise to a cap of 47, with Crane paying for all power upgrades; the second building would need a new substation, also at Crane's expense.

City planning staff approved the site plan in July 2024, the planning commission upheld it after an appeal, and the city council voted 5-0 on October 14, 2024 to deny a second appeal from resident Dale Feik. "It blocks out the sky. It puts my house in the shade of this giant building," neighbor David Haworth, 70, told the council. Mayor Malynda Wenzl said, "My job as a presiding officer and as an elected person in Forest Grove is to uphold our code. I'm not gonna lie, a 75-foot building? I feel you."

In nearby Hillsboro, data centers have consumed more than 300 acres of the city's industrial land, and Hillsboro has since enacted a temporary ban on new data centers. Crane must still finish a Heather Street extension and meet the city's drainage and noise rules before it can occupy the building; no work session on possible zoning changes had been scheduled as of August 2025.