Blindsided by the sale of George Washington University‘s Science and Technology Campus in Ashburn, Virginia, to Amazon Data Services, the Loudoun County government is prepared to fight to keep data centers off that property.
“Data centers have been a godsend for Loudoun County, from a financial perspective,” said Buddy Rizer, the county’s executive director of economic development, in a WTOP interview. “We do think data centers are important, but we don’t think data centers should be everywhere.”
Rizer said his initial reaction to the sale was surprise, “but quickly it became frustration because we have spent the last four or five months trying to get a meeting with GW to address some of the rumors we had heard about them trying to sell the land.”
Amazon Data Services paid $427 million for the campus located in Loudoun County. Under the terms of the sale, the school can keep using the campus for up to five years.
“At no time has the Board of Supervisors envisioned data centers on that property,” Rizer said. “In fact, for the last 20 years, we have tried very hard to keep data centers off of Route 7.”
Asked what he would like to see built on the campus, located near the Potomac River, Rizer said, “If we can’t have higher education, it would be a great place for research and development, things like robotics, and drones and AI-related activity.”
“I think there’s an opportunity for mixed-use there,” Rizer said. “That’s been very successful with One Loudoun right across the street,” referring to Route 7.
Among the reasons Rizer would oppose a data center on the land: “Currently, there is no electrical infrastructure that is needed for data centers on that land, though Dominion is planning to build a high voltage line down the Route 7 corridor.”
“We think that this is just not the right area, because of proximity to houses, and the ability to really use that land for other economic development priorities,” he added.
Loudoun County benefits from data centers
Rizer said data centers have benefited county residents.
“We’ve been able to lower the tax rate by 48 cents on the dollar, we’ve been able to lower the car tax by more than a dollar and have done that while increasing the services for our citizens, including dozens of new schools and new fire and rescue stations, and upgraded services throughout the county,” he said.
“And, we want to make sure data centers are not put in places that are conflicting with our land use policies, near residential.”
Last year the Board of Supervisors changed the county’s data center rules to require all new applications to undergo special exception review.
Rizer believes the county has strong legal footing.
“We do not think that data centers can be built there by right,” based on existing zoning and land-use laws, said Rizer. “Whatever they decide to do, they would have to come before the Board of Supervisors, and at least as it stands today, I don’t anticipate them getting the votes needed to put data centers there.”
A 2024 study showed Amazon owns more than 20 parcels of land in Loudoun County.
“We will continue to look through our opportunities and try to work with the company on finding options that could work for both of us that don’t include data centers at the University Center area,” Rizer said.
An Amazon spokesperson told WTOP any future development would involve community input, coordination with local leaders and transparent public processes.
The spokesperson said Amazon has invested over $161 billion in the commonwealth since 2010, creating over 43,000 full and part-time jobs.
The company said as part of its normal due diligence process, it constantly evaluates new locations based on customer demand.
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