Land and Expand is a periodic feature at Data Center Frontier highlighting a sampling of the latest North American data center development news, including new sites, land acquisitions and campus expansions.
Today, we look at some new and notable developments from hyperscale and colocation data center companies about which we’ve been reading lately, specifically in the the Commonwealth of Virginia, home of world's perennially largest data center market, Data Center Alley in Ashburn.
Virginia’s Culpeper Tech Zone Sees Another Major Data Center Investment from EdgeCore
It is interesting to take a look at data center development in Virginia right now and be able to see the extremes of how communities are adapting to continued data center development, in a relatively small geographic area.
As we have previously reported, Culpeper Virginia’s Tech Zone, which is designed to encourage the development of data centers in their part of the state, was implemented with one of the goals being to have addressed issues of community opposition in advance.
The approach is apparently working and an additional data center operator, EdgeCore Digital Infrastructure, announced on July 18th the acquisition of 120 acres of land for new data center development in the CTZ.
According to Michael Shaw, VP of Land Acquisition, EdgeCore Digital Infrastructure, "The demand for land capable of accommodating 300+ MW data center campuses has skyrocketed in the wake of AI and cloud applications. EdgeCore's new campus [in the CTZ] is an excellent option for our hyperscale customers due to its proximity to Ashburn and the near-term availability of power."
The plans for the data center campus include developing a a 1.4 million square foot campus with initial support for 216 MW of critical IT load.
The development will potentially scale to 432 MW of power delivery, with the initial power being supplied as soon as 2028 via the Rappahannock Electric Cooperative. This will be the fifth Edgecore facility, all of which have been designed to support a single, hyperscaler, tenant.
Addressing the community requirements for data center development, Bill Jabjiniak, SVP of National Community Engagement, EdgeCore Digital Infrastructure, announced that the company "looks forward to helping generate economic growth and jobs for Culpeper County while remaining mindful of topics that are important to the community, such as our minimal impact on local water supplies.”
Notably to address water supply concerns, EdgeCore plans on the Culpeper data center using a close-looped air-cooled system that uses very little water to cool its facilities, carrying a benchmark water usage effectiveness (WUE) rating below .01 L/kWh.
Loudoun County Update
As noted at DCF earlier this month, Loudoun County, Virginia is at the moment no longer so receptive to the development of data centers.
At a contentious recent Board of Supervisors meeting, the county's planning board voted unanimously to delay, for two weeks, the decision on the proposed amendments constraining data centers.
Many of the local residents who attended the meeting on July 16th called for even stricter requirements on data center development than were currently being proposed.
Residents argued that data centers need to be sited even further away from residential areas than previously proposed, and for the setback distance for exposed equipment to be increased.
Residents were also in favor of the previous proposal that every data center would need to have its own application for a special exemption and its associated hearing process, so that local arguments against the projects could be clearly made.
The only compromise solution presented at this time was for already approved projects to be able to move forward regardless of any change voted into place at the next set of meetings, allowing companies that have already made major investments a chance to salvage those investments.
The next Board of Supervisors meeting will be July 30th.
PowerHouse Breaks Ground On Massive Data Center Campus In Spotsylvania County
As recorded by Datacenter Dynamics (DCD), PowerHouse Data Centers has just broken ground on a new, approximately 800 MW data center campus in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, with the site's first 300 MW substation currently under development and set to provide 150 MW by October 2025.
Dubbed PowerHouse 95 (PH 95), the campus will have three 300 MW substations when completed, geared to serve the data-intensive needs of hyperscale users in northern Virginia, still the world's largest data center market by far.
PowerHouse announced on its LinkedIn page that the new campus construction was underway. Upon completion, the site's first substation will provide enough power to construct up to eight or more high-density data centers, stated the company.
PowerHouse 95 is expected to offer a competitive advantage by accelerating the operator’s ability to address customers' increasing data demands in the region, despite concerns over power constraints. The campus is located along the I-95 corridor, with two existing substations offering "imminent access to power," according to the company.
PowerHouse Data Centers was introduced in 2022 as the brand for the digital infrastructure business of American Real Estate Partners (AREP). PowerHouse partnered with investor Harrison Street, who at that time announced plans to invest $1 billion to build six data centers representing 2.1 million SF of space in Northern Virginia by 2026.
On the Spotsylvania campus, parent investor Harrison Street and PowerHouse Data Centers said they'll have the flexibility to develop between four to eight powered shells and two additional substations, maximizing optionality for hyperscale tenants.
PowerHouse has already made its impression felt in the state's Loudoun County. The developer's seminal project was the imminent PowerHouse ABX-1 at Beaumeade, a 265,000 square foot (SF) data center in Ashburn.
Meanwhile, the company's well-publicized razing last year of the old AOL headquarters near Dulles Airport for hyperscale data center construction in a 1.2 million sq ft project was at the time only the latest symbolic expression of where PowerHouse is headed.
The following video illustrates the progress of construction at the PowerHouse 95 North site.
Google Plows $1 Billion More Into Virginia Data Center Campuses
In April, Google announced that it will invest $1 billion in expanding its Virginia data center campuses this year and is launching its $75 million AI Opportunity Fund. The announcement was made by Google’s top executives and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin in a ceremony at Google’s Reston, VA office.
Google operates two data centers in Loudoun County and one in Prince William County, newly opened in 2023, and is investing $1 billion to expand these campuses. With the investment, Google has invested more than $4 billion in Virginia to date, according to the company's blog.
“The investments we’ve made today are not only important investments in infrastructure, but they’ve also added 3,500 jobs in Virginia, and they’ve supported $1 billion of economic activity, and we look forward to continuing to build on the work that we’ve done today,” commented Ruth Porat, Google and Alphabet’s president, chief investment officer and chief financial officer.
Google appears to have additional plans for Prince William County data centers. InsideNova and DCD in March both noted that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approved a 181-acre data center complex project application from Delaware-based Sharpless Enterprises, a shell organization linked to Google.
At the announcement, Youngkin noted that Northern Virginia’s data center market is larger than the next five U.S. markets combined, and larger than the next four global markets combined, citing a 2023 JLL data centers report measuring markets by megawatts of built-out critical IT load capacity.
Reporting in Virginia Business reminds us that:
According to the Data Center Coalition, the data center industry invested $37 billion in the commonwealth over just the past two years. One of Google’s main competitors, Amazon Web Services, invested $35 billion in Virginia data centers between 2011 and 2020 and plans to invest another $35 billion by 2040 to develop multiple data center campuses across Virginia.
“Google’s ongoing investment in Virginia is a testament to our state’s skilled talent, robust infrastructure, and leadership in advancing the development and application of emerging technologies,” Gov. Youngkin said in a statement. “We are proud that Google is furthering its commitments to Virginia’s economic growth by investing an additional $1 billion in our Loudoun County and Prince William data center campuses, and by offering its new Google AI Essentials course to veterans, transitioning service members, military spouses, workers and students throughout the Commonwealth.”
Meanwhile in adjacent reporting, the Rapphannock News noted how the hyperscaler's two new AI workforce development initiatives — a $75 million AI opportunity fund and a new Google AI essentials course — will help workers lean about the emerging technology.
“Together with our partners and community-led organizations, Google is committed to delivering targeted AI skilling and training so that Virginians, veterans, and millions of others can make the most of the opportunities of today and tomorrow,” Google's Porat said in prepared remarks.
Southern Virginia's Pittsylvania County Approves First Data Center Project
In Southwest/Southside Virginia, as reported by Grace Mamon of regional chronicler Cardinal News, Pittsylvania County has approved its first data center project.
Mamon's report said the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to allow the data center development that officials said could bring in billions of dollars in investment and millions of dollars in tax revenue over 10 to 15 years, as well hundreds of jobs, despite resident opposition to the project as registered at local board meetings.
Matt Rowe, economic development director for the county, said after last month’s planning commission meeting, where the project was unanimously recommended for approval, that the aforementioned numbers were speculative but not officially confirmed. But Thomas Gallagher, who gave a presentation to the board on behalf of the development group, Anchorstone Advisors LLC, said in an interview with Cardinal News that they are all attainable.
According to the reporting, "the board’s approval will allow for the rezoning of 946 acres off U.S. 58 in Ringgold, in the southeastern part of the county just a few miles from Danville. The developers are under contract to purchase the property. The project will be built out over a period of about 10 years, according to the developers. If all goes well with permitting, construction could start in 12 to 18 months," added the report.
As further noted by Mamon:
"The project could represent up to $5 billion in investment, according to the Pittsylvania County Industrial Development Authority (IDA). It could also contribute up to $120 million in tax revenue over a 10- to 15-year period, though it’s too early to say for sure, Rowe said....The data center, which would be the first of its kind in Pittsylvania County, could also create up to 500 jobs....Rowe said that none of these figures have been finalized or publicized by county staff, even though Joey Faucette, chairman of the IDA, cited the numbers during the June planning commission meeting. 'This is very, very much the early stage of a very long-term, very large project,' Rowe said. 'We have not finalized any of that with the client.'”
Mamon's reporting added:
...In recent months, Southwest Virginia economic development officials also have repeatedly said that they want to attract data centers to their region. But residents who live near the Ringgold parcel have opposed the development. They already have a landfill in their neighborhood, they said, and they don’t want to deal with the light, noise and traffic that they say would be created by a data center...Gallagher said that the data center would comply with the county’s noise ordinance, which would limit noise to 65 decibels, or around the volume of a normal conversation, at the property borders. The project would also comply with 'Dark Sky” principles, which are designed to mitigate light pollution, Gallagher said, adding that most of the project vehicle traffic would come during the construction phase....
The report further noted that Anchorstone Advisors has hosted community meetings with residents to answer questions about the project.
Amazon Boosts Northern Virginia Cloud Cluster
In May, Datacenter Dynamics noted how Amazon Data Services has continued the massive expansion of its Northern Virginia cloud cluster by acquiring 91 acres in Manassas for $218 million, likely for purposes of data center development.
Citing Prince William County property records, the Washington Business Journal reported that Amazon Data Services Inc. bought the 91-acre site at 14237 and 14209 Dumfries Road in Manassas from Parsons Business Park LLC in late April for $218 million.
The report noted that the Prince William Board of County Supervisors approved a rezoning proffer amendment in March that authorizes the entire site for prospective data center development.
DCD's Dan Swinhoe noted that the site, located west of Dale City near Independent Hill, sits within the county’s Data Center Opportunity Zone Overlay District.
DCD's reporting further noted that Plaza Realty Management is also planning a 1 million sq ft data center development in Prince William County known as the Potomac Technology Park along Dumfries Road in Manassas.
Fairfax County Approves Data Center In Chantilly, Virginia
Finally, DCD also recently noted how Fairfax County has now greenlit construction of a data center in Chantilly, Virginia. Rezoning for the site was approved in January; DCD's report noted that the company responsible for the proposed development is an affiliate of Penzance, per county records.
The county board of supervisors first voted to approve rezoning of the 12-acre parcel of land located at Lee Jackson Memorial Highway and Stonecroft Boulevard.
The data center was originally expected to occupy more that 400,000 sq. ft while reaching heights of 110 ft, making it the tallest data center in the county. The structure is now proposed to stand 70 ft. tall.
As reported below by local TV news affiliate NBC4 Washington, residents of the Meadows of Chantilly residences along Route 50 have actively opposed the data center development.
