Amazon agreed to abandon its data centers plan and pledge 25 acres for public facilities and $5 million for housing
The company was previously planning to build four data centres on a 120-acre campus at the George Washington University Science and Technology Campus in Ashburn, Loudoun County for $427 million. Instead, Amazon will donate roughly 25 acres of the property to Loudoun County for community facilities align with contributing $5 million to the county’s affordable housing efforts through the Loudoun County Affordable Housing Trust Fund. In March, the university’s student newspaper, The GW Hatchet, identified Amazon Data Services as the buyer, which purchased the property for $427 million.
As reported by Fortune, Randall in a press conference alongside Amazon Web Services data centre delivery vice president Joshua Weissman said: “My goal was to disallow data centres or infrastructure that could support data centres on this property. Through our collaborative, respectful conversations, Amazon has agreed to forego its proposed application for data centres, and of note, forego any legal action to realize data centre development on this site. ” As stated in a Fortune report, GW president Ellen Granberg announced the university had sold the campus in February this year.
The university then said the transaction would help support its “long-term financial health. Titled “Bridgefield Tech Centre,” the proposal asked for four two-story data centre buildings totaling more than 800,000 square feet. Amazon has abandoned its plan to expand its data centre footprint in Virginia. It has now withdrawn its application to develop the data centres. However, she did not disclose the buyer or purchase price. In July this year, Amazon filed a site plan for a proposed data centre development.
She said Amazon’s $427 million purchase price, about four times the property’s assessed value, and the land’s zoning made it likely that the company planned to build a data centre there. Algonkian district supervisor Juli Briskman asked county staff to study the possible impact of the proposed project. However, by July, Briskman had raised concerns about adding another large data centre to the area.