Related Digital, Oracle, Walbridge, Blackstone and Labor Leaders Celebrate One Million (Union) Work Hours at The Barn in Saline Township

SALINE TOWNSHIP, MI (August 27, 2026) – Related Digital, Oracle, Walbridge, Blackstone and leadership from the National and Michigan skilled trades workforce building The Barn, the data center campus in Saline Township, today celebrated one million craft hours logged on the project. Leaders from the Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council joined to recognize the more than 1,800 hardworking tradesmen and women for their commitment to construction safety, efficiency and excellence. During construction, the project will support more than 2,500 union jobs.

"Today, as we celebrate 1 million work hours and the incredible progress that's been made, we also celebrate Michigan's long history of leading in industrial innovation, thanks to its skilled labor force,” said Bruce A. Beal, Jr., President, Related Companies. “This project is proof that we can reenergize our skilled trades, reenergize manufacturing across the country, and carry forward Michigan's legacy of powering American competitiveness. Thank you to our partners at NABTU, the Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council, and Walbridge for their shared commitment to this work." 

This milestone reflects the skill, professionalism and commitment to safety demonstrated every day by Michigan’s union trades workforce,” said Mike Haller, CEO, Walbridge. "The Barn is being built under an innovative labor agreement that brought together owners, contractors and the building trades with a shared commitment to safety, opportunity and respect. We’re proud to work alongside these skilled men and women as they help build one of the most significant projects in our state’s history.” 

“Reaching one million hours is a reflection of the skill and dedication Michigan’s tradespeople bring to this project every day,” said Mahesh Thiagarajan, Executive Vice President, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. “The Barn represents a major investment in Michigan’s workforce and future—creating thousands of high-quality union jobs today and expanding long-term opportunities for Michigan workers. Those opportunities come with a responsibility to the community, and we are meeting it by protecting local natural resources and ensuring the campus pays its own energy costs as we deliver one of the most consequential technology infrastructure projects in Michigan’s history.”

“We are proud to celebrate one million work hours at The Barn, a milestone that reflects the contributions of the over 1,800 union tradespeople helping bring this project to life,” said Mike Forman, Global Head of Digital Infrastructure, Blackstone Real Estate. “As demand for digital infrastructure continues to accelerate, projects like this demonstrate how investment in AI infrastructure can create meaningful economic opportunities for local communities and workers. We are grateful for the partnership of Related Digital, Oracle, Walbridge and skilled trades workers on a project that is helping position the state at the center of America's digital infrastructure buildout.”

Steve Claywell, Secretary Treasurer, Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council said, "The 1 million hour milestone celebrated today is a direct reflection of the unwavering commitment shared by all the men and women of the Michigan Building Trades to continue to build this State. The Union Building Trades workforce continues to demonstrate quality and professionalism regardless of the size of any project. The relentless commitment to training and safety continue to be paramount in what they do everyday. It is an honor to have the opportunity to demonstrate their skills and abilities on a landmark investment such as this. We would like to thank Oracle and Related Digital for their vision and investment in Michigan. We stand ready to continue our partnership with Walbridge and see to the completion of this historic project.”

Construction continues to progress across the 250-acre campus. To date, crews have installed:

• 240,000 feet (approximately 45 miles) of low- and medium-voltage duct, enough to cover driving distance between Detroit and Ann Arbor, laid end to end.
• 25,900 cubic yards of concrete, enough to pour a sidewalk running the entire Lake Michigan shoreline of the Lower Peninsula.
• 12,000 tons of structural steel erected onsite, approximately the weight of 5,000 Ford F-150s
• 82,000 bolts placed across the campus, more bolts than there are seats in Ford Field. 

The Barn is being 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 the project’s general contractor Walbridge, whose century-long relationships with Michigan’s building trades made the partnership possible. 

Images from today's celebration are available for download here.

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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 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.

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 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 Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council

The Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council supports the interests of nearly 100,000 construction workers in the State of Michigan. Their mission is to help protect the safety, working conditions and wages of Michigan’s unionized construction workforce. 

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