Michigan has cleared a significant procedural hurdle in its push to build a data center on university-owned land, with the institution's Board of Trustees voting this week to advance the project into a formal due diligence phase, reports WXYZ.

Board Moves Project Forward After Year of Planning

The vote authorizes the next stage of evaluation for a facility that has been in development since mid-July 2025, when the university first issued a request for proposals for a data center development on a five-acre site on its Rochester campus.

The selected proposal came from Fairmount Properties, which would be responsible for building and operating the facility. University officials have stated the data center will be built and run at no additional cost to Oakland University.

The project's advancement follows more than a year of planning that has already seen one notable adjustment to the proposed site.

The original location, a parking lot designated P-35 at 253 Pioneer Drive, was moved to a site adjacent to parking lot 37 after concerns were raised that the initial location was too close to a Native American Heritage Site.

Planned Specifications and University Requirements

According to the original request for proposals, the planned facility would be classified as a colocation edge data center with a capacity of less than 30 megawatts.

The specifications outlined in the RFP also require the facility to include 1,000 square feet of office space designated for Oakland University's AI Institute, as well as a dedicated 2,000 square feet for the university's own compute infrastructure.

At the time the bids were solicited, the existing compute infrastructure did not exceed one megawatt of capacity.

The full expected footprint of the completed data center has not been publicly stated. The university's project webpage describes the development as a response to what officials characterize as critical technological deficiencies on campus.

The stated goals include expanding compute capabilities to support next-generation teaching and research, strengthening data security and compliance, and creating new opportunities for students through industry collaboration.

University materials note that Oakland University's computing core is currently split between aging and fragmented spaces in Dodge Hall and North Foundation Hall.

Officials have described this legacy environment as presenting clear technological limitations that directly affect teaching and research operations on campus, particularly as computing demands continue to rise across core disciplines.

A Long Road to Construction

Despite the board's approval to proceed, the project remains in its early stages with a considerable timeline ahead before any ground is broken.

According to the shared project schedule, the due diligence phase will take place in the fall and will encompass site assessments, infrastructure evaluations, financial reviews, and environmental analysis.

Following the completion of due diligence, the design phase is not scheduled to begin until summer 2027.

Construction itself is not expected to commence for at least 18 months after the design phase is completed, meaning the project is likely several years away from delivering an operational facility.

Fairmount Properties Takes the Lead

The selection of Fairmount Properties as the development partner places the financial and operational burden of the project on the private firm rather than the university.

Under the proposed arrangement, Fairmount would build the data center and rent out capacity from the facility, with Oakland University receiving dedicated space and resources as part of the agreement.

The university's description of the arrangement as carrying no extra cost to the institution reflects the nature of this public-private structure, though detailed financial terms have not been publicly disclosed beyond those broad parameters.

Michigan's Data Center Landscape

Oakland University's project enters a Michigan market that already hosts a substantial number of data center operators. According to DataCenterMap, Michigan has 76 data centers spread across 12 markets, with the majority of those facilities concentrated in Detroit.

Operators active in the state include EdgeConneX, US Signal, ManagedWay, 123Net, 365 Data Centers, and Cogent. Rochester, where Oakland University is located, sits north of Detroit.

The university's push to expand its compute infrastructure through a purpose-built colocation facility reflects a broader trend of academic institutions seeking to close the gap between the scale of modern research computing demands and what legacy campus infrastructure can provide.

Whether the project reaches the construction phase on the timelines currently projected will become clearer once the due diligence assessments are completed later this year.