HOWELL TWP., MI — When multiple developers of hyperscale data centers to power artificial intelligence and cloud computing approached Ryan Van Gilder and his family, he said, they had not been planning to sell farmland for development.

Now the longtime, multigenerational Howell area farming family is looking to sell a chunk of the many thousands of acres of farmland they own to a hyperscale data center project reportedly backed by Facebook and Instagram owner Meta .

“We didn’t seek out a sale or a data center. They came to us,” he said.

Van Gilder said “financially, it is good for us,” but he would not offer specifics.

A proposal to rezone more than 1,000 acres on both sides of W. Grand River Avenue in Howell Township for the data center is facing pushback from locals concerned abo

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