A public meeting, organized by locals part of the "Stop the Menomonie Data Center" group, was hosted at Menomonie's Zymurgy Brewing on Sunday, Aug. 24 at 4pm to discuss the large proposed data center in Dunn County.  (Photo by Dylan Goss)

EDITOR'S NOTE (09/22/25): During the latest Menomonie City Council meeting – held at 7pm on Monday, Sept. 22 – Mayor Randy Knaack announced the proposed data center is "on pause." 

Knaack's verbal statement on the proposed project as shared during the meeting:

"I listened to citizens, I listened to the community. If there's something that is a concern, I think I need to address it, and so I took a bold move, perhaps, in the eyes of some people. I know not everybody's gonna agree with what I did last week but I did something that I thought was proper, and so with that being said, I have an announcement to make.

"Last week, Sept. 17, I drafted a memo and had our city administrator contact Balloonist, LLC. In the document, I stated that I am not currently interested in pursuing a Tax Increment District or a development agreement. As the chief executive officer of Menomonie and serving as your mayor, I have listened to the people of Menomonie and around the area. To me, your voice does matter. So, as your mayor of Menomonie, the issue of the data center is now on pause. And that's all I'm going to say about this."

Mayor Knaack's statement was not part of the City Council packet materials shared online prior to the meeting. This is a developing story. 

On Monday, Aug. 25, the City of Menomonie officially shared the investment price-tag attached to a proposed data center project in Dunn County: $1.6 billion. If the data center were to be approved in the future, it would likely be the single most expensive project in the history of the Chippewa Valley.

The proposed data center was brought forth to City Council by an unknown end-user – currently operating through alias “Balloonist, LLC” – earlier this year. The potential data center has made waves in the community since entering the public sphere in July when City Council considered and ultimately approved the annexation and rezoning of the potential project site's land parcels.

The land in question – 324 acres located along County Highway B between 650th Ave. and 690th Ave., Menomonie – was annexed from the Town of Red Cedar to the City of Menomonie after being petitioned by several private landowners: Nicholas Rassbach, Ronnie Prochnow, Rusk Prairie Farms, LLC, Red Cedar Produce, LLC, Janet Koepl, Gregory Quilling, and Anthony and Adrie Swanson.

The same group, except for Quilling and including Balloonist, LLC, then petitioned for the land to be rezoned from its former temporary Agricultural use to Restricted Industrial use.

”

(THE CITY OF MENOMONIE HAS) ONLY COMPLETED THE ANNEXATION AND REZONING.

That doesn't mean anything as far as land sales goes; that doesn't mean anything as far as final end-use of the land. So, right now, it is kind of in the developer's hands to make a decision on moving forward.

ADAM ACCOLA
DIRECTOR OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, DUNN COUNTY

Since July, significant opposition to the potential data center has grown among Menomonie and Dunn County residents, leading to the creation of an online group called “Stop the Menomonie Data Center.” As of Aug. 26, the group has over 730 members. 

On Sunday, Aug. 24, members of that group and others gathered at Zymurgy Brewing (624 Main St. E, Menomonie) to discuss the proposed data center; what locals could do as a collective to further spread the word of the proposed project; and how to make their opposition more widely heard.

The meeting, which garnered more than 50 individuals – including Menomonie Mayor Randy Knaack and none of the City Council members – lasted about two hours and led to several details related to the proposed project being revealed publicly for the first time, including its potential investment value, shared by Knaack (then, he named it as a $1.7 billion investment).

The following afternoon, the City of Menomonie released its own FAQ related to the proposed project, in response to weeks of growing tension between concerned area residents, supporters of the proposed project, and City Staff and Council members. It includes eight questions such as “What is the expected assessed value of the development?”, “How much water will the potential data center use?”, and “How many jobs will be created?”

What We Know About The Proposed Data Center

Importantly, there has been no official development plan for a data center presented to City Council. There has also not been any vote made by Council explicitly about the data center. So far, as it relates to the specific land in question, the council has only voted and passed its annexation and rezoning.

Currently, there is little specific information about the potential data center plans, though a few site plans and details are public knowledge.

According to the Restricted Industrial zoning requirements, all buildings are required to be three stories or 45 feet tall with front, side, and rear yard setbacks. The current site would include “buffer zones” meant to reduce noise on adjacent properties, the City stated.

A few investment impacts were noted in the City FAQ, including the project's potential to “improve the City's credit rating, currently in the bottom third in Wisconsin,” which could subsequently lower interest rates and costs for taxpayers, and potential tax revenue growth which could support reduced individual property taxes or improved services and amenities.

The City also shared employment figures related to the potential data center: up to 1,000 “daily workers” including contractors, electricians, plumbers, and HVAC specialists, among others, would be employed as part of the proposed data center’s construction. The construction itself could take roughly four to seven years.

Once development wrapped up, about 50-75 full-time employees and 200-300 contract employees would then be employed at the proposed data center.

A submitted site plan, at right, displays the proposed data center's building/equipment yard (brown), proposed stormwater management areas (blue), and general project boundaries. The land in question is roughly outlined in yellow, at left.

Environmental impact is another significant point of concern for regional and local residents, and across the nation, as it relates to large data centers. The City stated the proposed data center would use about 75,000 gallons of water per day through a closed-loop system, which would only make it the fifth-highest water user in Menomonie (the No. 1 water user is Cardinal FG which utilizes about 144,285 gallons per day, according to the City). The City’s waste treatment plant would process the center’s wastewater.

What We Know About Balloonist, LLC

Balloonist, LLC was created in January 2024, according to the State Department of Financial Institutions’ records. That was about one month before Menomonie City Administrator Eric Atkinson signed a single-party NDA related to the project.

While it is common practice for businesses to create a new LLC when considering an additional project or venture, for locals, the lack of information available surrounding who is behind Balloonist, LLC, seems elusive.

Balloonist, LLC is identified as a “Foreign LLC,” which means it is not a Wisconsin-based company. Its records state two addresses, one linking to Corporation Service Company. Corporation Service Company is a corporate compliance servicer headquartered in Delaware.

The second address, its “principal office,” is located at 103 Foulk Road, Suite 202, Wilmington, DE 19803. The address can be found tied to a swath of businesses and licensing types.

However, it is notable that both addresses – for Corporation Service Company and the 103 Foulk Road address – have been used in tandem for at least three other data center projects which were ultimately revealed to be tied to Meta, the parent company of Facebook. Those include:

• A 520-acre data center site in Beaver Dam, Wis. (Before Meta was revealed as the end-user, it had been operating through “Degas LLC.”)
• A 280-acre data center site in Rosemount, Minn. (Before Meta was revealed as the end-user, it had been operating through “Jimnist LLC.”)
• A 945-acre data center site in Cheyenne, Wyo. (Before Meta was revealed as the end-user, it had been operating through “Goat Systems LLC.”)

What We Know About Balloonist, LLC's Representatives

Balloonist, LLC was first named at a March 3 council meeting earlier this year. Then, council met in a closed session to discuss a proposed pre-development agreement “for industrial development in TID #18.”

Council went into another closed session at the following meeting, on March 24, to further deliberate or negotiate the pre-development agreement with Balloonist, LLC. The agreement was approved at the meeting.

Balloonist, LLC was not specifically named again in council agendas until the Aug. 4 meeting when annexation and related project documents were exhibited. Then, Attorney Douglas S. Buck was named as a representative of Balloonist, LLC.

Buck is a partner and attorney with Quarles & Brady LLP, a national multidisciplinary firm with about 550 attorneys. Its clients include “industry leaders in technology, energy, financial services, health care, insurance, pharmaceuticals, real estate and manufacturing, to name just a few.”

Quarles & Brady has a specific team dedicated to legal support for data center projects. As stated on the firm’s site, “we have relationships with many of the most prominent national players in the data center world.” Buck specifically has successfully represented client interests related to developing data centers both within and outside of Wisconsin.

What Happens Now?

The timeline for additional items to be presented to the City by Balloonist, LLC, is unknown, according to several City Council members, Mayor Knaack, and Dunn Economic Development Corp. Director Adam Accola.

“(The City of Menomonie has) only completed the annexation and rezoning. That doesn’t mean anything as far as land sales goes; that doesn’t mean anything as far as final end-use of the land,” Accola said in an interview on Aug. 26. “So, right now, it is kind of in the developer’s hands to make a decision on moving forward.”

While the end-user behind Balloonist, LLC is not public knowledge, council member Abigail Pickard stated all she knew, as of Aug. 26, is “it is one of the top tech giants.”

If the land sale goes through between the private local landowners and Balloonist, LLC, the unknown end-user would still need to begin numerous processes with the City of Menomonie related to development plans.

Technically, the land is also now fit for any entity whose proposed project fits the criteria of the Restricted Industrial zoning code.

As for locals part of the “Stop the Menomonie Data Center” group, members will continue seeking signatures for its petition in opposition of the potential data center; dispersing “NO DATA CENTER!” yard signage; and organizing future meetings, events, and additional outreach opportunities.

This is a developing story with future updates to come from Volume One. Additional information from the City of Menomonie about the potential data center can be found online at menomonie-wi.gov. Previous agendas and minutes from the City Council can be found online as well.