An $832 million data center planned for a long-vacant factory in Michigan City secured tax incentives despite the vocal opposition of many residents, advancing a project that's being touted as potentially transformative.

Milwaukee-based Phoenix Investors is looking to transform the former Federal-Mogul windshield wiper factory at 402 Royal Road into a data center campus, or a cluster of computer servers that would support consumers' voracious appetite for data through streaming, social media, web surfing, GPS navigating and the fast-growing use of artificial intelligence. The plant, originally Anco, has been empty for more than 15 years.

“I applaud the council for their due diligence in listening, learning and weighing the facts about data centers in the midst of strong debate,” Michigan

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