Microsoft Project Osmium Under construction

Permits already on file (3)

Filings we have a source for — the record, not a place to look for one.

• 2023-08-16
  A building permit valued at $345 million was issued for the fifth and final 250,000-square-foot building at the Project Osmium complex at 5855 SW Kerry Street, completing the planned buildout of the 1.7-million-square-foot campus. · source
• 2022-12-01
  In December 2022, Microsoft received a building permit valued at $255 million for the fourth building at the Project Osmium campus at 5855 SW Kerry Street, West Des Moines. · source
• 2021-01-01
  In 2021, Microsoft was granted permission for the third of five planned buildings at the Project Osmium site by West Des Moines city officials, for a 241,000-square-foot data center facility. · source

State environmental permits

Backup generators, water withdrawal and stormwater are permitted by the state, usually earlier and in more detail than anything filed locally.

• Iowa DNR — Air Quality BureauThe program page: which permits this state requires, and the office that issues them.
• Iowa DNR document searchSearchable public filings — search the operator, the shell LLC on the deed, and the address.

County & town filings

The rezoning application, site plan, traffic and noise studies, staff report and every revision.

• Search West Des Moines planning filingssearchPlanning departments post application files under many different names. Find the department, then ask the clerk for the application number — that number unlocks everything else.
• Search West Des Moines property records / GISsearchThe parcel record names the buying LLC and the sale date, which is what ties an anonymous filing to an operator.

Utility & grid records

The electricity request is filed with the grid operator and the utility long before the town hears about it — and states the real load.

• MISO (Midwest & Gulf) — interconnection queueRequested megawatts, queue position and target in-service date. The MW here is the real number; the one at the town meeting is often phase one.
• Southwest Power Pool (Plains) — interconnection queueRequested megawatts, queue position and target in-service date. The MW here is the real number; the one at the town meeting is often phase one.
• Iowa Utilities Commission — docket searchSpecial contracts, large-load tariffs and rate cases are docketed here. Testimony and exhibits are public, and are usually more candid than the press release.
• FERC eLibraryFederal filings: transmission agreements, interconnection service agreements, and co-location disputes.
• Search the serving utility for a will-serve lettersearchThe will-serve or load-service letter is the utility's own written commitment. Ask the utility and the PUC for it by name — it is frequently the first document to exist.

Federal databases

Works anywhere, and covers the operator's record at its other sites.

• EPA ECHO facility searchEvery federally-reported air, water and waste permit at a facility, plus its inspection and violation history. Search by address or draw a radius around the site. This project's locality centres on 41.470, -93.780 — search that point with a 5-mile radius.
• EPA EnvirofactsThe same underlying records, queryable by county — useful for 'what else is permitted near this site' rather than one facility.
• EPA Facility Registry ServiceResolves the shell LLC on a permit to the facility it belongs to. Worth a look when the filing name means nothing locally.

These are places to look, not evidence that anything has been filed. Links were checked on 2026-08-21; search links are queries, not records. What to ask for.