Switch Pyramid Data Center
Gaines Township, Kent County, MI
Source: Primary source
Switch Pyramid Data Center is a under construction data center in Kent County, MI, operated by Switch, Inc.. DataCentersExposed has documented 320 MW of reported power capacity and a 1,800,000 sq ft footprint at this site.
Reporting by Eric Keller · Updated Jun 21, 2026
Overview
source: linkSwitch's Grand Rapids campus, known as the Pyramid Campus, occupies the former Steelcase Corporate Development Center, the landmark pyramid-shaped building in Gaines Township that Steelcase sold in 2015 and Switch reopened as a data center. Switch markets it as one of the largest and most advanced data center campuses in the eastern United States, with a full build-out of roughly 1.8 million square feet of white space and up to about 320 MW of power. A second building is complete or nearing completion and a third is in planning. The site sits inside a Michigan Renaissance Zone, a designation that exempts the operator from most state and local taxes (including the state education tax, personal and real property taxes, and the state income/business tax) for the life of the zone. In exchange Switch committed to as much as 5 billion dollars of investment and up to about 1,000 jobs across the phases. Critics, including state policy analysts, have questioned whether a capital-intensive data center that employs relatively few people justifies an exemption of that scale.
Operator chain
- Files asSwitch, Inc.
- This facilitySwitch Pyramid Data Center
Grid & water — why here
source: HIFLD · EPAThe closest existing grid infrastructure and the municipal water system this location sits in — the same constraints the buildout model screens on (it won't site a campus more than ~2 km from a substation or ~5 km from municipal water). Distances are straight-line to public HIFLD/EPA features, not a metered connection.
In the news
source: Google News- Gaines Township to research noise at proposed data center siteAOL.com· Aug 26, 2026
- Understanding Data CentersShoreline Media Group· Jul 16, 2026
- What to know about data centers as citizens demand more regulationsDetroit Free Press· Jul 16, 2026
- Meet the West Michigan residents fighting Microsoft and AI data centersMLive.com· Jun 17, 2026
- West Michigan residents protest data centers in front of developer roundtableMLive.com· Jun 17, 2026
- Residents threaten recall after Lowell Township rejects data center moratoriumMLive.com· May 19, 2026
Data-center discussions in Kent County
source: LocalView (CC0)Local-government meetings in this county that discussed data centers, each cued to the moment. From the public LocalView corpus of government meetings on YouTube — a county-level signal, not necessarily about this specific site.
Tax breaks & subsidies
source: Good Jobs First / GASB 77- Michigan Renaissance ZoneTax break$0Gaines Township & State of Michigan · granted — · term — yr · source
Michigan reported $1.1M in Data Center / Colocation Sales and Use Tax Exemption (MCL 205.54ee / 205.94, pre-2025 program) for FY2023 (Michigan Department of Treasury, Office of Revenue and Tax Analysis (ORTA)). Program-wide, not attributable to this site.
Water use
No public record of this facility's water use. We check state withdrawal reporting for self-supplied sites; municipally supplied sites only become visible through a public-records request to the local water utility — a per-facility request tool is coming. If you have a utility document for this site, send it to us.
EPA permits & violations
source: EPA ECHONo reported violations as of last sync.
Nearest school
source: HIFLD / NCESThe nearest public school, Endeavor Elementary in Grand Rapids, is 0.6 mi from this site (544 students).
Schools are sensitive receptors for the noise, backup-generator exhaust, and traffic a large data center brings. Straight-line distance to the nearest public school (HIFLD/NCES, US public schools only).
Hearings timeline
No public-hearing records linked to this site yet. We surface planning-commission and board-of-supervisors dates when a record names a facility. If you know of a hearing on this site, tell us.