Supervisors backed a preliminary deal: no data centers on the GW campus, 25 acres to the county, housing on the other 97 and $5 million for the housing trust fund.
There will be no data centers on the George Washington University campus in Ashburn under a preliminary deal between Loudoun County and Amazon Web Services. The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday on a set of measures meant to rule them out.
Amazon bought the George Washington University Virginia Science and Technology Campus earlier this year. The county announced the terms in a news release on Thursday. The county and Amazon still have to finalize the agreements in the coming months.
What the deal includes
Under the terms announced at Tuesday’s meeting, the county release says:
- Amazon will convey about 25 acres to the county. The county puts its fair market value at $65 million.
- The board will fast-track the rezoning of the remaining 97 acres, which Amazon keeps, for “a broad spectrum of housing and mixed-use development.”
- The 25 acres may pass to the county at no cost as part of those residential rezoning applications.
- Amazon has offered to donate $5 million to the county’s housing trust fund.
- Amazon stated its intent to withdraw its data center application for the site and to forgo any legal action over data center development there.
What the county wants to build
Chair Phyllis J. Randall said the county will consider an indoor sports and recreation facility and a community arts center on the 25 acres. She and Amazon call the joint venture “Project Potomac Promise.”
“There will be no data centers or infrastructure that would support data centers on the GW campus,” Randall said in the release. She said the land “provides the opportunity to build a long-awaited indoor sports facility and community arts center for the county.”
The county said Amazon “acknowledged the significant opposition to data center development at the site.” That prompted the company to approach Randall about alternatives, according to the release.
The university stays for now
The university will keep operating at the site for the next four and a half years, the county said. Amazon told the county it plans to keep using the existing university buildings for education.
The release does not say how many homes could be built on the 97 acres. That will be set in the rezoning applications, which go through public hearings.
The wider data center pause
A separate proposal to pause the board’s action on new data center and substation applications was due for discussion Tuesday. It was deferred to the board’s Nov. 17 meeting to give county staff more time.
If approved, that resolution would pause legislative applications for data centers and electrical substations for up to 12 months, the maximum Virginia law allows. The county attorney has advised that an outright moratorium is not legal. The county’s review of its data center standards and locations is expected to wrap up in summer 2027.
What it means for you
- Nothing changes on the campus yet. The vote lets the county administrator keep negotiating with Amazon. The terms are not final.
- Watch for the rezoning. Housing on the 97 acres needs a rezoning, and rezonings get public hearings before the Planning Commission and the board. Our building permits and zoning page explains how to follow one and comment.
- Speak on the data center pause. Residents can sign up to address the board on Nov. 17 at loudoun.gov/SignUpToSpeak. Meeting documents are posted at loudoun.gov/meetings at least three days ahead.
- For what homes in Ashburn are worth now, see our Ashburn home prices page.
Have your say