The Daily Dig
Google has confirmed it is the end user behind Project Cannoli, a proposed 1GW data center campus in Van Buren Township, Michigan. Panattoni submitted the development in December 2025, with plans to build across roughly 130 acres of a 282-acre site south of I-275, north of I-94, and east of Haggerty Road. Township documents describe a five-building campus exceeding 800,000 square feet, with Walbridge already named as general contractor.
The project has preliminary site plan approval from the township Planning Commission, but final site plan approval and a development agreement from the Board of Trustees are still required before anything breaks ground.
On the power side, Google is partnering with DTE Energy to bring 2.7GW of new grid resources online, including solar generation, advanced storage, and demand flexibility. Google is covering the electrical infrastructure costs directly, so those expenses don't fall on local ratepayers, and has created a $10 million Energy Impact Fund to support Michigan organizations working to lower energy bills statewide. No construction schedule or job creation figures have been released.
Project Snapshot:
Project: Project Cannoli
Operator: Google
Developer: Panattoni Development Co.
General Contractor: Walbridge
Location: Van Buren Township, Wayne County, Michigan
Site size: 282 acres
Development area: About 130 acres
Capacity: 1GW
Buildings: Five-building campus; three data center buildings, a networking building, and an office building
Total footprint: 800,000+ square feet
Approval status: Preliminary site plan approved (Planning Commission, 5-2 vote, Feb. 11)
Next steps: Final site plan approval and development agreement (Board of Trustees)
Power plan: 2.7GW of new grid resources via DTE Energy
Power components: Solar, advanced storage technologies, and demand flexibility
Water demand: 2M to 3.6M gallons per day
Water supply: Purchased from the township (not groundwater)
Upstream source: Great Lakes Water Authority (Lake Huron, Detroit River)
Community investment: $10M Energy Impact Fund
Timeline: Not disclosed
Jobs: Not disclosed
TheJobWalk Thoughts
This project has an identity now, and the procurement clock is running. A named developer, a GC already in place, and a preliminary approval on the books puts this well ahead of most projects at this stage of entitlement.
The detail that deserves the most attention is how Google is handling power. They are not drawing on existing grid capacity and moving on. They are building 2.7GW of new generation and storage resources in parallel with the campus itself, which means utility coordination, energy infrastructure, and vertical construction are likely running on overlapping schedules rather than in sequence.
For GCs, specialty contractors, and suppliers, that is a meaningful distinction. The teams that get in front of the utility and site infrastructure scopes before the Board of Trustees signs off will have a real advantage. By the time final approvals are public, the contractors already in the conversation will be the ones closing work.
Courtesy of Van Buren Township
Courtesy of Van Buren Township
Courtesy of Van Buren Township
