In Port Washington, Wisconsin — a lakeshore city of 13,000 north of Milwaukee — members of the Karrels farming family collectively earned at least $20 million selling land for a 672-acre AI data center campus now under construction, including one 173-acre parcel that sold for $10.2 million, or $59,000 per acre — 17 times its $590,000 fair market value, according to public records analyzed by Wisconsin Watch (published July 13, 2026). It's one of the clearest examples yet of how the AI data center land rush is reshaping rural land economics nationwide, turning ordinary landowners into instant millionaires while leaving some sellers, and their neighbors, deeply unsettled.
2026 Update — Developing Story
- July 13, 2026 — Wisconsin Watch reports the Karrels family and their farming business earned at least $20M from Port Washington, WI land sales tied to a Vantage/Oracle/OpenAI-linked $15 billion data center project. The Schlenvogt family sold a home and 65 acres for $3.44M (nearly 8x fair market value); Peter and Ellie Burmesch sold a 2,000-sq-ft home on 5 acres for $2.13M (7x FMV); an adult group home valued at $320,700 sold for $6.5M as part of a relocation deal.
- July 2026 — In nearby Beaver Dam, WI (Dodge County), Meta paid roughly $10.4M for 520 acres of former Alliant Energy Commerce Park land plus at least $10.4M more for an additional 226 acres from private landowners, for a $1 billion facility, per Dodge County property records cited by Wisconsin Watch.
- 2026 — In Mount Pleasant, WI (Racine County), Racine County property sale records suggest Microsoft spent roughly $260 million on land alone for a $20 billion data center project, largely on parcels the village had already assembled for an earlier, unrealized Foxconn development.
- Reported June–July 2026 — In Salem Township, Pennsylvania (Luzerne County), 96 landowner families completed a coordinated ~1,700-acre, $586 million land sale to QTS (a Blackstone portfolio company) at an average of roughly $330,000 per acre — about $5.5 million per family on average — for a planned data center campus of up to 12–17 buildings near an existing Amazon project and the Salem nuclear plant, according to the Times Leader and Data Center Dynamics.
- No public records reviewed confirm identical per-acre multiples outside these reported transactions; figures above are as disclosed in the cited public records and reporting, not verified independently by PlaceAcre.
Data Center Land Deals, 2026
| Location | Acres | Reported Price | vs. FMV | Notable Development |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Port Washington, WI (Karrels family, largest parcel) | 173 | $10.2M ($59,000/acre) | 17x ($590K FMV) | Vantage/Oracle/OpenAI-linked $15B campus, under construction |
| Port Washington, WI (Schlenvogt family) | 65 (+ home) | $3.44M | ~8x ($437K FMV) | Same Port Washington campus assemblage |
| Port Washington, WI (Burmesch couple) | 5 (+ home) | $2.13M | 7x (est. FMV) | Same Port Washington campus assemblage |
| Salem Township, PA (96 families, aggregate) | ~1,700 | $586M ($330K/acre avg) | Not disclosed as a multiple | QTS/Blackstone 12–17 building campus near Amazon site |
| Beaver Dam, WI (Dodge County, aggregate) | ~746 | $10.4M+ per major parcel | Not disclosed | Meta's ~$1B facility |
| Mount Pleasant, WI (Racine County) | Not fully disclosed | ~$260M (land only, est.) | Not disclosed | Microsoft's ~$20B facility on former Foxconn site |
Wondering what your land might be worth in a heated market? Get a cash offer for your land or read our guide, Ways to Make Your Land Pay You.
The Windfall
A 672-acre data center campus — part of a reported $15 billion Vantage/Oracle/OpenAI-linked project — is now under construction in Port Washington, a city of 13,000 residents. Multiple families whose land sat inside the assemblage made 7x to 17x their land's fair market value, according to Wisconsin Watch's review of public records.
Mayor Ted Neitzke, quoted in Wisconsin Watch's July 13, 2026 reporting by Tom Kertscher and Paul Kiefer, said of critics of the project: "There's a vocal minority that's decided it needs to be louder… [sellers are] just not going to engage in it." He characterized sellers as humble and unlucky-into-luck: "They woke up one day and they just happened to live in the right spot."
Both quotes attributed to Wisconsin Watch's July 13, 2026 reporting.
Not Every Seller Is Celebrating
Ryan Nowak sold 65 acres for $1.75 million — over $1.3M above fair market value — but told Wisconsin Watch he now regrets it after downsizing to 1.5 acres nearby: "On paper it looked OK, until you go to replace what you had."
Curtiss Smith, a 53-year-old crane operator, sold a 4-acre property (FMV $258,000) for $895,000 in August 2025. "People that weren't part of it, they're like, 'Oh, now you're a millionaire.' Far from it," he told Wisconsin Watch.
Quotes attributed to Wisconsin Watch reporting.
The Neighbors Who Didn't Get an Offer
Resident Amanda Mueller, who lives near the site but wasn't offered a purchase, told Wisconsin Watch she is worried about environmental impact and property values: "I don't think this town is ready for the culture change that's going to happen."
This Isn't Just a Wisconsin Story
In Salem Township, PA (Luzerne County), the $586M / 1,700-acre QTS deal — coordinated by 4-3 Consulting per the Times Leader and Data Center Dynamics — shows the same pattern at scale. Combined with the Meta project in Beaver Dam and Microsoft's Mount Pleasant expansion, hyperscale AI data center developers are systematically paying multiples of assessed and fair-market value nationwide to win sites near power infrastructure.
That same dynamic — power access driving above-market land offers — is now reaching land near Niagara Falls, NY, where Urbacon's proposed $1.5 billion, 140MW Niagara Digital Campus is drawing on New York Power Authority hydropower (per reporting on the project as of April 2026). Note: no public reporting we reviewed shows Niagara-area landowners have received specific offers yet — the point is that the same power-driven demand pattern is arriving in a new region.
Why Landowners Should Read the Fine Print
Per Wisconsin Watch, Nowak said he signed documents — before hiring an attorney — that he believed prevented him from discussing offers with neighbors. That's a caution for any landowner approached by a data center developer: get independent legal and appraisal advice before signing anything, including NDAs and option agreements.
Comparing an unsolicited developer offer to a professional cash-offer process (like PlaceAcre's) or a traditional listing can help you know whether the number in front of you is fair — or whether the offer is priced to lock you out of a much larger opportunity.
How Big Is the Multiple?
The 7x–17x figures cited above (Burmesch 7x, Schlenvogt ~8x, Karrels 17x) are the specific multiples over fair market value disclosed in the sources cited — not a national average. Most rural land sales do not see offers anywhere near this size. These are outlier prices driven by a specific site's fit inside a hyperscale data center assemblage.
What Happens Next
- The Port Washington data center remains under construction as of this writing.
- The Niagara Falls, NY Urbacon project was still awaiting additional local approvals as of April 2026 reporting.
- Landowners near announced or rumored data center and power infrastructure projects nationally should expect continued above-market interest from developers through 2026–2027, per Niagara-area reporting describing Central New York as "a top-five U.S. data center growth market for 2026–2030."
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Sources & Further Reading
- Wisconsin Watch — "In a Wisconsin land rush, data centers made them millionaires" (July 13, 2026)
- Times Leader — "96 Salem Twp. landowners complete historic 1,700-acre sale for major data center campus"
- Data Center Dynamics — "QTS acquires 1,700 acres of land in Pennsylvania for data center development"
- Westside Construction Group — "Niagara Digital Campus: A $1.5 Billion Data Center Proposal Navigates the Path to Groundbreaking in Niagara Falls" (2026)
All dollar figures, acreages, and fair-market-value multiples in this article are as reported in the sources cited. PlaceAcre has not independently verified county records or transaction documents.