Main Squeeze: A company is trying to rezone 203 acres at I-95 and West Midway Road in Fort Pierce for a data center campus they are calling Project Neptune

Remember that wave pool project everyone was talking about? That was the last big proposal for this land. Now there is a data center being proposed on the same land. Here is the quick video breakdown if you want the fast version 🏗️.

The property at the northwest corner of I-95 and West Midway Road in Fort Pierce is at the center of a rezoning application that could bring one of the largest data center campuses in South Florida to St. Lucie County.

The land is owned by Willow Lakes LLC. The developer is Devcon Digital, a division of Devcon Enterprises. They are calling the project Project Neptune.

What is being proposed 📋:

🏢 174 acres rezoned to Light Industrial, restricted by a 50 year covenant to data center use only

🛍️ 26 acres along West Midway Road rezoned to General Commercial for retail, a hotel, gas station or restaurants

🖥️ Six data hall buildings of roughly 220,000 square feet each in the current concept plan

⚡ Full build out capacity projected at over one gigawatt of dedicated computing power

Why this site: Two FPL high voltage transmission easements cross the property and a major substation sits directly south of it. A large man made lake already on site is intended for cooling instead of municipal drinking water. Direct I-95 access means traffic does not route through residential streets. You can read the full narrative and justification statement the applicant filed with the city.

How this process works: This came up in a Technical Review Committee on August 20th. Every big project like this has three steps. Technical Review Committee first, then the Planning and Zoning Board, then the City Commission. Residents can weigh in at both the Planning and Zoning meeting and at the City Commission meeting if it makes it that far. If the rezoning gets approved the company will then enter into an agreement with a partner company that will actually develop and operate the data center.

What is still under study: Final electrical load, water balance analysis, property line noise modeling and a fire district capacity determination have all not yet been completed. These are required as part of the permitting and site plan process that follows rezoning. The developer covers all open items publicly on their knowledge center.

Worth noting: Florida law passed in 2026 requires large load customers, those drawing 50 megawatts or more, to pay the full cost of their own infrastructure. That cost cannot be shifted to residential ratepayers. The law also preserves local government authority over land use decisions.

The full application record is public and includes a traffic impact analysis, environmental assessment, drainage analysis, capacity analysis, survey and deed.

What's next: Planning and Zoning Board public hearing date has not yet been noticed. After that it goes to the Fort Pierce City Commission. We will be following this story closely as it makes its way through all three meetings 📅.