George Washington University campus sale leaves Loudoun County bracing for a data center fight
On a stretch of Route 7 in Ashburn, Virginia, where development decisions can reshape daily life block by block, the sale of the george washington university Science and Technology Campus has landed with the force of a surprise storm. Loudoun County officials say they were caught off guard when the property was sold to Amazon Data Services—and now they are preparing to fight to keep data centers off the site.
What happened with the George Washington University campus in Ashburn?
Loudoun County’s government says the sale of George Washington University’s Science and Technology Campus in Ashburn to Amazon Data Services blindsided local officials. Buddy Rizer, executive director of economic development for Loudoun County, said he first felt surprise, then frustration, after the county spent “the last four or five months” trying to get a meeting with the university to address rumors the land might be sold.
Amazon Data Services paid $427 million for the campus, and under the terms of the sale the school can keep using the campus for up to five years.
Why Loudoun County says it will oppose data centers at the site
Rizer’s message is not anti–data center in principle. He described them as financially transformative for the county, calling them “a godsend” from a financial perspective. But he drew a sharp line around land use and location: “We do think data centers are important, but we don’t think data centers should be everywhere. ”
He said county leaders never envisioned data centers on that specific property. “At no time has the Board of Supervisors envisioned data centers on that property, ” Rizer said, adding that for two decades the county had tried “very hard to keep data centers off of Route 7. ”
Among the reasons he cited: the absence of electrical infrastructure needed for data centers on the land, even as Dominion is planning a high-voltage line down the Route 7 corridor. Rizer also pointed to the site’s proximity to houses and argued the land could serve other economic development priorities.
The county’s case, as Rizer framed it, also leans on process and zoning. Loudoun County changed its data center rules last year, requiring new applications to undergo special exception review. Rizer said the county believes it has strong legal footing and does not think data centers can be built there “by right” under existing zoning and land-use laws. Any proposal, he said, would have to go before the Board of Supervisors—and he does not anticipate it receiving enough votes under current conditions.
If not data centers, then what: a debate over the land’s next identity
Rizer described an alternative vision for the property that tries to keep the site tied to innovation without turning it into what he sees as the wrong kind of infrastructure for that corridor. If higher education cannot remain the anchor, he said the land could be suited for research and development—“things like robotics, and drones and AI-related activity. ” He also suggested the possibility of mixed-use, pointing to One Loudoun across the street as an example he considers successful along Route 7.
In the county’s telling, the stakes are not abstract. Rizer said data centers have helped fund local services and reduce tax burdens for residents. He cited a lowered tax rate by 48 cents on the dollar and a reduction in the car tax by more than a dollar, while also increasing services including dozens of new schools, new fire and rescue stations, and upgraded services throughout the county. That record is part of why the county’s opposition is framed as a question of placement—keeping data centers from being built “in places that are conflicting with our land use policies, near residential. ”
For residents living near the corridor, the fight being signaled is about the kind of neighbor the site will become. For county leadership, it is also a test of whether land-use rules can hold under the pressure of a high-profile buyer and a lucrative industry.
A 2024 study showed Amazon owns more than 20 parcels of land in Loudoun County, underscoring the scale of the company’s footprint. Rizer said the county intends to keep looking for options and to work with the company on alternatives that could satisfy both sides without placing data centers at the former university campus site.
For now, the scene along Route 7 remains suspended between what has been sold and what may still be decided: a newly purchased campus, a county signaling a legal and political fight, and a community watching to see whether the next chapter brings servers—or something else entirely—to the george washington university property in Ashburn.
