AWS is looking to develop a 900,000 sq ft (83,600 sqm) data center campus in Bristow, Northern Virginia.
First reported by Inside NoVa, the company – through its Amazon Data Services unit – has filed to rezone 59.6 acres on Nokesville Road in Bristow, Prince William County.
The company is hoping to rezone the land from A-1, Agricultural, to PBD, Planned Business Development, implemented with the O(H), Office High-Rise zoning district, for the purpose of developing a data center campus. There is also a concurrent special use permit request to allow for data center uses up to 110 feet in height and electric substations outside of the Data Center Opportunity Zone Overlay District.
The project, known simply as ‘Bristow Campus’ would see two three-story data center buildings constructed – each spanning a total of 450,000 sq ft (41,800 sqm) – along with a substation.
The greenfield site is located north of Nokesville Road and east of Linton Hall Road, but outside the County’s dedicated data center overlay district. The request covers six parcels – 11479 and 11540 Nokesville Road – owned by CBG Land LLC; Mu-Del Properties LLC; VRN Broad Run Overlook LLC; Furman Land LLC; Route 28 Bristow LLC; LCS Land LLC; Pinnacle Real Estate Group LLC; and Carr Land LLC.
The company argues that while the land is outside the data center overlay district, the land to the northeast is within the zone, and so should be allowed given their similar characteristics.
“The Property is ideally positioned for data center development given its context and its surrounding land uses. There is no meaningful difference between the properties to the northeast and the property in terms of data center development potential or access to infrastructure,” AWS said in its filing.
This is the second large-scale development being proposed in Bristow. Further north up Linton Hall Road, Virginia-based developer Stanley Martin was recently granted a zoning request for its plans to develop up to 4.25 million sq ft (395,000 sqm) on a 250-acre plot.
Amazon already has a significant presence in Northern Virginia and continues to expand in the area. As well as acquiring more land in Sterling and Aldie in Loudoun County, plus Prince William County’s Gainesville, the company is looking to expand in Fauquier County’s Warrenton, Culpeper County’s Stevensburg, Fairfax County’s Chantilly, and Prince William County’s Manassas.
The company even sought to expand into neighboring Maryland. AWS had hoped to develop a number of data centers in Frederick County, but pulled out after local officials said it couldn’t meet the cloud company’s aggressive timelines. This was partly due to the fact zoning changes were required and such amendments couldn't be made on the eve of county elections; county officials have since amended local zoning laws.
