Eagan Establishes Data Center Moratorium
A burgeoning appetite for ever more AI, cloud computing, and 24/7 internet connectivity is driving the demand for more data centers across the country. Yet data center developers with their sights on the City of Eagan should look elsewhere — at least for the next year.
The City Council has unanimously passed a data center interim ordinance, a first of its kind in Minnesota. “We want to understand as fully as we can the implications of the new generation of data centers,” said Mayor Mike Maguire during the Feb. 17 meeting. “The size and scope of [these] data centers are giving the Council pause.” This moratorium stipulates that no new data center may be located in Eagan within 500 feet of residential homes or use more than 20 megawatts of electricity through Feb. 17, 2027, unless the Council lifts the moratorium earlier.
In the meantime, City staff will conduct a study of data centers, which store, process, manage, distribute, and protect data. The study will include long-term infrastructure impacts; use of resources, including energy and water; noise produced by data centers; changing design standards; and how future data centers fit within Eagan’s zoning framework. Following the study, “Community Development, along with any consultants, will make recommendations to Council regarding reasonable restrictions on the operation
of data centers within Eagan,” explained Dianne Miller, city administrator.
Eagan's Current Data Centers
Eagan will soon have four data centers, all of which were approved prior to the moratorium. The former Unisys site (3199 Pilot Knob Rd.) has an enterprise data center, which supported Unisys operations. The new property owner has indicated its intention to continue operation of the existing data center. The 90,000-square foot DataBank data center (3255 Neil Armstrong Blvd.) opened in Eagan back in 2015. It’s a colocation data center, which means that it houses multiple clients and is served by various network providers.
Opening this summer is another colocation data center, owned by Boston-based Centra, at the former Thomson Reuters’ dedicated data center (610 Opperman Dr.). Dubbed MSP1, this 100,000-square-foot, 12 MW carrier-neutral facility is scheduled to open by late summer and will primarily serve as a signal booster for networks of clients, among them, Minnesota-based broadband and telecommunications provider Arvig.
Eagan’s fourth data center, owned by Excelsior-based Oppidan, will serve as an industry edge data center, again working as a signal booster for its tenant network. Construction is underway, and this 61,554-square-foot, single-story 5MW data center (3621 Argenta Trl.) will likely be occupied and operational this fall.
Both Centra and Oppidan say their facilities are designed to be energy and water efficient.
Did you Know?
Minnesota businesses lost hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue/wages during December–February federal immigration enforcement, according to many media reports. To help families who’ve been sheltering in place, the Eagan Community Foundation is collecting donations for rent relief and more. For info, visit eaganfoundation.org.
Ecolab To Invest $500M In Eagan Campus
Ecolab announced in March its intention to invest $500 million in a project that will update and expand its two-decade-old Schuman campus (655 Lone Oak Dr.), which focuses on research and development plus training.
The 82,200-square-foot project will include a new campus entry, remodeled customer-experience facilities, and state-of-the-art labs.
“Ecolab has been an innovator in Minnesota
and a valued partner here in Eagan,” Mayor Mike Maguire says. “Their $500 million investment…reflects the strength of our workforce and presents important growth opportunities for both Ecolab and our Eagan community.”
To help support the project, Ecolab applied to the Minnesota Forward Fund for $10 million. Eagan’s City Council supported this request last May via a resolution, which noted that the project will not only help secure 1,000 positions but bring thousands of Ecolab customers to Eagan annually for training.
Notes Maguire: “We at City Hall look forward to learning more about Ecolab’s expansion plans and continuing our successful work together.”
Briefly
People
After a distinguished 34-year career, Fire Chief Hugo Searle has concluded his fire service with the Eagan Fire Department. During nearly five years as Eagan’s fire chief, he strengthened the City’s full-time fire department model, improved emergency response times, and fostered a culture rooted in teamwork, mentorship, and service.
Business
The Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal listed the top 20 women-owned companies ranked by 2025 revenue, including All in One Accounting (#14) and Transport Express (#11), led by Heide Olson (founder and CEO) and Lacey Olson (chief manager and owner), respectively.
After an eight-year effort, Caponi Art Park is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The nearly 40-year-old, 60-acre park features roughly 50 large-scale sculptures, most by founder Anthony Caponi.
Davey Tree Expert Company has purchased a $7.5M, 7.25-acre commercial property (3300 Terminal Dr.).
Due to bankruptcies, Francesca’s and Saks OFF 5th have closed most of their stores, including those at Eagan’s Twin Cities Premium Outlets.
Ryan Cos., which purchased the former 179-acre Thomson Reuters campus (610 Opperman Dr.), is continuing its redevelopment, now proposing a 337,000-sq.-ft. industrial building for an unnamed tenant.
In other Thomson Reuters news, roughly 180 employees recently sent a letter to company leadership expressing ethical, legal, and human-rights concerns about the company’s multimillion-dollar contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The employees asked the company to provide more transparency about how federal agencies may use Thomson Reuters’ CLEAR investigative database, which compiles large amounts of public and commercial data used in investigations. In a statement, the company said it provides technology that supports investigations related to national security and public safety and noted that it maintains safeguards to ensure its products and services are used in accordance with contractual terms and applicable law.
Government
While the City of Eagan hadn’t received a request for an ICE detention center, the City Council decided at its March 2 meeting to unanimously approve a resolution to oppose any ICE detainee facilities in Eagan.
During this year’s State of the City on March 19, Mayor Mike Maguire focused on how community members’ voices help guide Eagan forward. The event, held at the CLA Connection Center (2685 Vikings Cir.), celebrated the city’s continued growth, strong financial stewardship, and commitment to community engagement that makes the City a great place to live, work, play, and do business. Watch the State of the City at cityofeagan.com/sotc.
Eagan was a top performer in the 2025 Voice of the People Awards in five categories, and won the top award for health and wellness. Run by research firm Polco, its survey tracks resident responses from hundreds of U.S. communities and bases the awards on their input.
Looking ahead to 2050
It’s just about that time again — time for the City of Eagan to begin working on its next Comprehensive Plan (CP). Once a decade, the process of creating Eagan’s CP helps determine community goals, guides development and redevelopment, and addresses changes over the next 20 years.
Eagan, like other large cities, is required by Minnesota state statute to create a comprehensive plan and to meet Metropolitan Council requirements.
The report relies heavily on the technical analysis conducted by City departments. “Community Development coordinates the full plan document, but it’s a big lift for a lot of City departments,” says Jill Hutmacher, community development director. “The plan is what it’s called — comprehensive.”
City staff, with the help of consultants, will develop eight technical master plans: Climate Action, Parks, Sanitary, Storm, Transportation, Water Supply, Integrated Water, and Water Resources. The City must also create land use and housing plans. All plans must align with each other and with the Metropolitan Council’s forecasts for housing, population, and job growth. “In other words, the comprehensive plan holistically evaluates every aspect of the City’s built and natural environment and determines what changes are necessary to accommodate projected growth,” Hutmacher says.
To kick off the project, City staff will begin to talk with community members on a wide variety of these topics. Over the spring and summer, you’ll see staff at Eagan Market Fest, Juneteenth, Big Rig Rally, and more events. Staff will be reaching out for business input through the Dakota County Regional Chamber of Commerce, Rotary clubs, and other business groups. “Wherever a group of people is interested in comprehensive planning, we can be there,” Hutmacher says. Online opportunities to provide input will be available as well.
Because the Metropolitan Council must approve the 2050 CP by December 2028, the report will likely be submitted in mid-2028. Like to see the previous CP? Visit cityofeagan.com/2040plan to read the full 2040 Comprehensive Plan.
Eagan's Giving Circle
Is your business looking for more ways to give back? Look no further than the Eagan Community Foundation, the City’s philanthropic hub.
The 35-year-old organization started broadening its mission in 2016. Beyond a focus primarily on scholarships, the foundation began expanding community grants while also adding donor services, flexible funds, and programs that build community connections.
Recently the foundation put a new spin on its annual Community Connections Coffee Break event in February: Participants paid a fee to attend, but then the collected $1,500 was sent back out to six nonprofits in amounts decided upon by the attendees themselves, who voted via tokens. An additional $500 was raised for the Eagan Community Response Fund, which currently prioritizes rent support and other emerging community needs.
"We wanted the event to function like a giving circle,” explains Jamie Hopkins, executive director, “where neighbors pool their generosity and work together to support organizations and initiatives that strengthen Eagan."
Before distributing their tokens, participants took a quiz to learn what kind of givers they were — answering questions like, do you typically give during a crisis? They then had an immediate and real opportunity to align their giving with their values.
“We were asking people to be introspective, take action, and think about their community in new ways,” Hopkins says. “People really loved it.”
If your business is interested in learning more about community needs and where your dollars might stretch the furthest, contact eaganfoundation.org.
“Businesses don’t have to figure it out alone,” Hopkins says. “We connect them with local needs, align giving with values, and turn that commitment into real impact.”