Fort Madison AI data center (east side)

Fort Madison, Lee County, IA

Octopus Investments, LLC (Dustin Wolgemuth), a private operator, has announced Fort Madison AI data center (east side), a data center project in Fort Madison, IA. Property owner Dustin Wolgemuth told the city in a Jul 26, 2026 letter that his site at 2201 S. Business 61 South (Burlington Hill, east side) will be an AI data center, after earlier talk of bitcoin mining, storage units and tiny homes. The land is owned by Octopus Investments, LLC (Kathleen, FL), registered to Wolgemuth. The city says a company holds a letter of intent with him for the site and calls the project small in scale. Over 100 residents overflowed the Jul 28 Planning & Zoning meeting; noise and heat are among the issues officials named, and Wolgemuth wrote there would be some noise. The council has directed P&Z to keep drafting a "High Infrastructure Impact Development" ordinance and is weighing two-mile extraterritorial zoning. Lee County froze new data center work for a year from Jun 16, 2026 (county jurisdiction; the site is inside city limits). No approval yet. Residents report the site is next to a cemetery and in a residential part of town (Facebook comment, Oct 2026; report to Architect Digital, Oct 5, 2026). Sources: City of Fort Madison public-information notice; Pen City Current.