Amazon drops 800,000-sq-ft data center plan at former GW campus
Amazon will withdraw its Ashburn data center application, donate 25 acres and $5 million for housing, and let Loudoun rezone the former George Washington University campus with a data center ban.
Amazon has dropped its plan to build about 800,000 square feet of data centers on the former George Washington University campus in Ashburn. Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Chair Phyllis Randall announced the agreement, which Amazon calls Project Potomac Promise, at the board's Oct. 20 meeting.
Amazon bought the roughly 120-acre Virginia Science and Technology Campus from GW in February for $427 million. Over the summer it filed an application for the Bridgefield Tech Center, four data centers on the site. Earlier in October, Loudoun's zoning administrator said Amazon needed additional county approval because data centers were not permitted as a primary use on the property.
Under the agreement, Amazon will withdraw the data center application and give up any legal action to pursue data centers on the site. It will donate 25 acres, valued at $65 million, for a community arts center and an indoor sports facility, and contribute $5 million to the county's housing fund. Loudoun will also be a focus community for a 2027 Amazon program that pays community college tuition and fees in fields such as the electrical trades, IT and health care.
The board directed the county administrator to start rezoning the rest of the land for mixed-use development, with market-rate and attainable housing as the main use. Randall said the new zoning district will not allow data centers, even by special exception. No timeline for the rezoning has been announced. Amazon said it chose this path over costly litigation, though it sees the property's development potential differently than the county.
The deal comes as the board weighs a 12-month pause on new data center and substation applications; that final vote was moved from Oct. 20 to Nov. 17 at the county attorney's request. Loudoun has about 54 million square feet of data centers built. GW can stay on the property for up to five years while it relocates programs, including its School of Nursing.
The deal turns a planned data center campus in the heart of Data Center Alley into land for housing and public facilities, and shows Loudoun negotiating rather than litigating as it tightens its data center rules.
What's next
- Nov. 17 Loudoun supervisors' final vote on a 12-month pause on data center and substation applications
- Date not set County-initiated rezoning of the site for mixed use, with no data centers allowed
Sources
- GW Hatchet: Amazon agrees to withdraw data center plans on GW's Virginia campus (Oct. 21)
- WJLA: Amazon is backing out of planned data center project at former GW campus (Oct. 20)
- Bisnow: Amazon ditches Ashburn data center plan, shifts to mixed-use vision (Oct. 21)
- The Virginia Pulse: Loudoun pushes data center pause vote to Nov. 17