Mill Creek Corporate Park

The proposed Oakline at Mill Creek data center is located in the Mill Creek Corporate Park in southeast Salem across from Corban University. According to corporate literature from Cushman & Wakefield, who markets the campus, “Mill Creek Corporate Center is a 600 acre master-planned employment campus with 238 shovel ready acres of land available within the City of Salem, along the Interstate-5 corridor, with options to configure in a spacious master planned community. The property is zoned Employment Center (EC) allowing for flex-space, manufacturing, warehousing, and offices, and has up to 20 acres zoned for retail services.” 

The campus was established in 2005 through State and local efforts to expand economic development and the region’s industrial capacity along I-5. It offers a variety of development incentives. In 2014, the City modified the Zoning Code for EC (Employment Centers) to include “data centers” as an allowable use within that EC designation. This campus is also promoted by SEDCOR, the City’s economic development partner, which also maintains marketing information. It was PGE and SEDCOR representatives that connected Verrus to the City of Salem. Mayor Julie Hoy was the City representative on the SEDCOR board at the time.

Mill Creek Urban Renewal Area

 The Mill Creek Urban Renewal Area is an 828-acre district in southeast Salem that was established in 2005 to support the Mill Creek Corporate Center. Through the Urban Renewal Area (URA), tax increment is used to finance major capital / infrastructure projects to facilitate private development. 

Completed projects to date include a 2.2 million gallon reservoir to meet the needs of the entire corporate campus (in theory), wetlands mitigation to accommodate build-out of the campus, and various other street, storm drain, and utility infrastructure projects.

Total maximum indebtedness of the project (tax increment collected to fund infrastructure projects) is $26 million. Based on a September 22, 2025 report to the City Council, staff forecasted that the Mill Creek URA would reach its maximum indebtedness in FY 2026/27, and would stop collecting tax increment by FY 2028. Tax increment will then flow into the City’s General Fund. Verrus representatives have estimated that property tax revenue to be approximately $9 million annually upon build-out (if the tax exemption isn’t extended.)