Oracle, Related Digital, Blackstone, OpenAI, Walbridge and Governor Whitmer Celebrate Construction of Stargate Campus in Saline Township

Saline Township, MI—Jun 1, 2026

Oracle, Related Digital, Blackstone, OpenAI, Walbridge, and Governor Gretchen Whitmer today celebrated construction of The Barn, the multi-billion-dollar Stargate data center campus under construction in Saline Township, which is the single largest economic investment in Michigan’s history. The financing for the project includes equity from Related Digital, funds affiliated with Blackstone, and fixed-rate, long term debt financing anchored by PIMCO-managed funds and accounts. The project team was joined by leaders from North America’s Building Trades Unions and Michigan labor representatives to thank the more than 700 Michigan tradesmen and women currently building the campus. During construction the project will create more than 2,500 union jobs.

As part of the project team’s commitment to ensuring that the campus benefits and strengthens the surrounding community, Related Digital, Blackstone, OpenAI, Oracle and Walbridge announced a new $10 million commitment to fund the expansion and modernization of the Saline Recreation Center, which serves families across Washtenaw County. Funding will support renovation of the Aquatic Center, including an expanded pool, with a zero-depth entry leisure area and lazy river, as well as improvements to the childcare area. These enhancements will significantly improve the visitor experience and enable the Center to expand the population it serves.

This latest community investment builds on previously announced far-reaching State and local economic benefits including $14 million in direct investments to local fire services and farmland preservation funds and thousands of good-paying union construction jobs.

“The Barn will bring tens of billions of dollars of investment to Michigan, creating thousands of good-paying local jobs both in construction and tech,” said Governor Whitmer. “In Michigan, we’re doing it the right way. We’re ensuring that any company that invests in our communities will pay their own way, fulfill their commitment to good-paying jobs, create energy savings for residents, and be good neighbors by protecting our precious air, land, and water. Let’s keep working together to grow our economy, invest in our people, and build a bright future.”

“Our job at OpenAI is to make intelligence smarter, cheaper, and more abundant so that more people can build, solve problems, and expand what they’re able to do. Delivering that for the many, not the few will require building new infrastructure,” said Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI. “OpenAI is committed to doing it the right way: paying our own way on energy, protecting water supplies, and building in partnership with the communities that host us.”

“American-led AI will strengthen our economy, generate new jobs, bring back American manufacturing, and create a better future for generations to come,” said Clay Magouyrk, CEO of Oracle. “Oracle is honored to work alongside our partners to build highly performant, secure AI infrastructure that advances American AI leadership while serving the local community, protecting natural resources, and bringing good-paying jobs to Saline Township and the state of Michigan.”

“This project represents one of the most significant infrastructure investments in Michigan’s history and will help power the next generation of American innovation and artificial intelligence. But from the very beginning, we believed this project also needed to deliver lasting value for the community around it, said Jeff Blau, Chairman of Related Digital and CEO of Related Companies. “The investments we are making in Saline, including our support for the Saline Center, reflect our commitment to being a long-term partner to this community. We are proud to be creating jobs, generating new economic opportunity, and helping strengthen the local institutions that make the Saline area a vibrant community.”

Nadeem Meghji, Global Head of Blackstone Real Estate, said: “We’re proud to back the largest ever investment in the state of Michigan and help deliver this critical AI infrastructure. This project will provide significant long-term benefits to the area, including thousands of jobs and new investment initiatives throughout the community that will be felt for decades to come.”

“Strong communities are built one investment at a time and rooted in places where we live, work and grow together. Michigan exemplifies this - a state where strategic investment is driving long-term economic growth and facilitating American leadership in AI, while delivering sustained community benefits for generations to come,” said Jim DeMare, Co-President, Bank of America.

Job Creation and Economic Development

The project is anticipated to generate tax revenues in the billions of dollars, averaging well north of $150 million per year for the better part of two decades, benefiting the County, Saline area schools, State and County schools and the Saline Township general fund, fire services, roads and local library. Saline Township alone will receive almost half of the benefit, equating to about $500 thousand per Saline Township resident over the lease term, and roughly more than 2,000 times what Saline Township would have received had this remained farmland.

The Barn’s positive economic impact to Saline Township, Washtenaw County, and the State of Michigan, also includes:

• 2,500+ union construction jobs, 450+ permanent jobs onsite, and 1,500+ jobs county-wide to support the project
• More than $5 billion invested in site construction will directly benefit Michigan contractors and suppliers
• $14 million in direct investment in local fire services and new community and farmland preservation funds

The Saline Township campus is the first data center in the country to be built under a first-in-the-nation project labor agreement executed under the National Maintenance Agreement, covering all 14 signatory affiliated skilled trade unions. It is also the first data center built under the memorandum of understanding between OpenAI and North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU). The agreement was developed collaboratively with Walbridge, whose century-long relationships with Michigan’s building trades made the partnership possible. The campus’ more than 700 union tradespeople have already logged over 300,000 union trade hours on the 250-acre site.

“Walbridge has been building in Michigan for more than a century, and we’re proud to continue that legacy here in Washtenaw County,” said Mike Haller, CEO of Walbridge. “This project reflects what we stand for – creating good union jobs, expanding apprenticeship opportunities for Michigan workers, and strengthening the next generation of skilled trades. We’re excited to be part of the team delivering the advanced infrastructure that will power the next generation of AI and innovation.”

“Projects like this demonstrate what is possible when workforce strategy is part of project planning from the very beginning,” said Sean McGarvey, President of North America’s Building Trades Unions. “The demand for AI and data infrastructure is growing rapidly, and the Building Trades and our contractor partners have spent decades preparing the skilled workforce, training capacity, and industry partnerships needed to build this next generation of infrastructure safely, efficiently, and at scale. Engagement with the building trades and our contractor partners means benefits for local workers, honest brokering with local communities and responsible development for years to come. America’s ability to lead in the next era of innovation depends, in part, on America's ability to build, and our members are proud to be helping make that future possible.”

Protecting Michigan’s Water

The project reflects Related Digital’s commitment to responsible data center development. The LEED-certified buildings will utilize a closed-loop, air-cooled system that limits water use to levels comparable to a standard office building, protecting Michigan’s water resources and the Great Lakes.

Related Digital is also committed to preserving 750+ acres of open space, farmland, and wetlands adjacent to the data center.

Expanding Energy Affordability

In accordance with Michigan law, the data center will pay for 100% of the electricity it uses during operations. DTE is supplying all of the project’s power using existing resources, augmented by a new battery storage investment, financed entirely by the project, that will generate an estimated $300 million in grid savings for DTE’s existing customers and strengthen local grid reliability.

All campus buildings are now actively under construction with the first of three 550,000-square-foot, single-story, LEED-certified data center buildings nearing completion.

About Oracle

Oracle offers integrated suites of applications plus secure, autonomous infrastructure in the Oracle Cloud. For more information about Oracle (NYSE: ORCL), please visit us at www.oracle.com.

About Related Digital

Founded by Related Companies, one of the most prominent privately-owned real estate development firms in the United States with more than $100B in assets owned or under development, Related Digital is a leading vertically integrated data center development and investment platform. Related Digital combines Related Companies’ 50-year-plus history of executing complex real estate and infrastructure projects with its track record developing large-scale clean energy solutions. Related Digital currently has data center projects underway in Ontario, Wyoming, Michigan, Missouri, Illinois and Texas. For more information, visit www.related-digital.com.

About Blackstone

Blackstone is the world’s largest alternative asset manager. Blackstone seeks to deliver compelling returns for institutional and individual investors by strengthening the companies in which the firm invests. Blackstone’s over $1.3 trillion in assets under management include global investment strategies focused on real estate, private equity, credit, infrastructure, life sciences, growth equity, secondaries and hedge funds. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow @blackstone on LinkedIn, X (Twitter), and Instagram.

About OpenAI

OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company whose mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity. OpenAI’s Stargate initiative, in partnership with Oracle, is expanding AI compute capacity across the United States to strengthen domestic supply chains, create good jobs, and help communities share in the economic opportunities AI is creating. For more information, visit www.openai.com.

About Walbridge

Walbridge is one of America’s largest privately held construction companies, founded in Detroit in 1916. The company offers construction management, engineering, and real estate services for customers in manufacturing, hyperscale data centers, automotive, defense, higher education, health care, and government. Walbridge employs more than 1,500 professionals in North America. For more information, visit www.walbridge.com.

The project, purpose-built exclusively for Oracle and OpenAI, is financed with equity from Related Digital and funds affiliated with Blackstone, and fixed-rate, long-term debt financing anchored by PIMCO-managed funds and accounts. Construction of the first data center buildings is underway and on schedule for delivery to Oracle.