Project Skyway, a proposed 482-acre hyperscale data center development in Pine Island, Minnesota, has been brought to a standstill after a Goodhue County District Court judge issued a temporary halt to construction on May 22, 2026. The order blocks developer Ryan Companies from proceeding with the Google-backed facility until a lawsuit filed by the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy (MCEA) can be heard on its merits. Google had been set to occupy the development’s first building, a 250,000-square-foot air-cooled data center, as part of a broader technology park anchored on the north end of the city of Pine Island, roughly an hour southeast of the Twin Cities. The Pine Island City Council approved a conditional use permit for the site in January 2026 and a financial incentives package in February, with construction originally scheduled to begin in July. The project promised more than $20 million in Google and developer-funded infrastructure upgrades to the city and its schools, and an Xcel Energy agreement to add 1,900 megawatts of new clean energy, including wind, solar, and the largest battery installation of its kind by gigawatt-hour capacity, to underpin demand.

A Template for Resistance Across the Minnesota Data Center Boom

The legal battle surrounding the Pine Island development reflects a broader national reckoning over how quickly hyperscale digital infrastructure is being pushed through local approval systems, even as projects such as the proposed 960,000 sq ft Kuna Data Center in Idaho demonstrate the intensity of demand driving the sector. The court’s willingness to halt construction before a single shovel had turned signals something more significant than a local dispute. Goodhue County District Judge Patrick Biren found that MCEA had a likelihood of succeeding on its claims and that the city and developer’s failure to disclose certain records in response to a Minnesota Government Data Practices Act request raised the likelihood of irreparable harm. At the core of the lawsuit is an argument that Pine Island’s environmental review, conducted under the Alternative Urban Areawide Review framework, was built around studies for a generic “technology center” and “light industrial development” rather than a hyperscale data center, even as Ryan Companies and Google were already aligned on the project under the code name Project Skyway. MCEA argues the distinction matters enormously: the facility could demand up to 2,700 megawatts of electricity, more than the capacity of Minnesota’s largest power plant. The Pine Island case is one of at least five active MCEA lawsuits against Minnesota cities including Lakeville, North Mankato, and Faribault, each raising the same core claim that the AUAR process has been used as a shield against genuine environmental scrutiny. The pattern mirrors dynamics seen in other US states where hyperscale development has raced ahead of regulatory frameworks, but Minnesota’s coordinated legal campaign is among the most structured in the country. For developers and tech companies eyeing the Upper Midwest’s relatively low land costs and cool climate, Pine Island is now a cautionary data point on the cost of opaque procurement.

Project Fact Sheet

• Project Name: Project Skyway (Pine Island Google Data Center)
• Location: Pine Island, Goodhue County, Minnesota, USA
• Project Value: Estimated at over $1 billion, including more than $20 million in Google and developer-funded infrastructure upgrades and a broader Xcel Energy clean energy agreement valued at $50 million toward grid capacity
• Client / End User: Google LLC
• Developer: Ryan Companies US Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Site Area: 482 acres total; initial Google building 250,000 square feet across a minimum 100 acres of development
• Power Requirement: Up to 2,700 MW at full build-out; Xcel Energy agreement includes 1,400 MW wind, 200 MW solar, and a 300 MW battery installation
• Cooling Technology: Advanced air-cooling; no water used for cooling operations
• Conditional Use Permit Approved: January 2026, Pine Island City Council
• Construction Planned: July 2026 (currently halted by court order issued May 22, 2026)
• Legal Status: Temporary restraining order in effect; MCEA lawsuit pending in Goodhue County District Court
• Strategic Impact: Google’s first confirmed data center in Minnesota; anchor tenant of a larger planned technology park

Project Team

• End User / Tenant: Google LLC
• Developer: Ryan Companies US Inc. (Peter Fitzgerald, Vice President of Real Estate Development)
• Energy Partner: Xcel Energy / Northern States Power Minnesota (Bria Shea, President, Xcel Energy Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota)
• Regulatory Authority: City of Pine Island, Goodhue County District Court
• Environmental Litigant: Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy (MCEA); staff attorney Abigail Hencheck; Chief Legal Officer Leigh Currie
• Presiding Judge: Goodhue County District Judge Patrick Biren
• General Contractor: Ryan Companies US Inc. (also serving as developer; specific construction subcontractor packages not yet publicly awarded as of court-ordered halt)