Stop the 20-megawatt industrial data center in the North Loop
The Issue
The North Loop is more than a place on a map, it's our home. Legacy Investing’s plan to acquire the 13-acre former Star Tribune Heritage printing facility at 800 N. 1st St. and build a 20-megawatt industrial data center strikes at the heart of our neighborhood, and we must act now to stop it.
A facility of this scale is fundamentally incompatible with residential life. Data centers this size can consume up to 250,000 gallons of water a day for cooling, and stacked server equipment can generate noise up to 96 decibels—audible for hundreds of feet and disruptive around the clock. Residents near existing data centers report headaches, sleep disturbance, and hypertension from the constant mechanical hum, and backup diesel generators release pollutants linked to cancer and heart disease. As electricity demand from data centers strains regional grids, wholesale power costs have risen sharply in affected markets nationwide—costs that too often land on residential ratepayers unless developers are required to cover them.
The site’s proximity to the river trails makes this even more urgent. These paths are where we walk, run, and bike every day, and act as social and wellbeing spaces we can’t afford to lose to construction traffic and operational hazards.
Nearby property values are also at risk: research on similar industrial land uses shows measurable declines in home values within a few hundred feet, driven by noise, emissions, and lack of visual screening.
A facility of this scale is fundamentally incompatible with residential life. Industrial cooling systems and round-the-clock energy demands bring noise pollution, strain local power infrastructure, and risk higher electricity costs for North Loop households. This is not a neutral neighbor, it’s an industrial intrusion into a community built on quiet, walkable streets.
The site’s proximity to the river makes this even more urgent, as data centers of this size consume roughly 110 million gallons of water per year.
Our demands:
- We call on the Minneapolis City Council to enforce the full spirit of the data center moratorium at 800 N. 1st St.
- We call on Ward 3 Council Member Michael Rainville to withdraw his support for this project.
- We demand permanent zoning rules prohibiting large-scale server farms near residential blocks and sensitive river ecosystems.
- And we insist on a full environmental impact assessment with genuine community input before any approval moves forward.
Sign our petition to stop this data center and protect the North Loop we love.
1,838
The Issue
The North Loop is more than a place on a map, it's our home. Legacy Investing’s plan to acquire the 13-acre former Star Tribune Heritage printing facility at 800 N. 1st St. and build a 20-megawatt industrial data center strikes at the heart of our neighborhood, and we must act now to stop it.
A facility of this scale is fundamentally incompatible with residential life. Data centers this size can consume up to 250,000 gallons of water a day for cooling, and stacked server equipment can generate noise up to 96 decibels—audible for hundreds of feet and disruptive around the clock. Residents near existing data centers report headaches, sleep disturbance, and hypertension from the constant mechanical hum, and backup diesel generators release pollutants linked to cancer and heart disease. As electricity demand from data centers strains regional grids, wholesale power costs have risen sharply in affected markets nationwide—costs that too often land on residential ratepayers unless developers are required to cover them.
The site’s proximity to the river trails makes this even more urgent. These paths are where we walk, run, and bike every day, and act as social and wellbeing spaces we can’t afford to lose to construction traffic and operational hazards.
Nearby property values are also at risk: research on similar industrial land uses shows measurable declines in home values within a few hundred feet, driven by noise, emissions, and lack of visual screening.
A facility of this scale is fundamentally incompatible with residential life. Industrial cooling systems and round-the-clock energy demands bring noise pollution, strain local power infrastructure, and risk higher electricity costs for North Loop households. This is not a neutral neighbor, it’s an industrial intrusion into a community built on quiet, walkable streets.
The site’s proximity to the river makes this even more urgent, as data centers of this size consume roughly 110 million gallons of water per year.
Our demands:
- We call on the Minneapolis City Council to enforce the full spirit of the data center moratorium at 800 N. 1st St.
- We call on Ward 3 Council Member Michael Rainville to withdraw his support for this project.
- We demand permanent zoning rules prohibiting large-scale server farms near residential blocks and sensitive river ecosystems.
- And we insist on a full environmental impact assessment with genuine community input before any approval moves forward.
Sign our petition to stop this data center and protect the North Loop we love.
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Petition created on August 4, 2026