A data center developer has acquired two plots of land in Fauquier County, Virginia.
The Fauquier Times reports that a ‘Texas-based data center developer’ recently signed agreements with landowners in the Northern Virginia towns of Vint Hill and Catlett.
The 48-acre site in Vint Hill, acquired by a McLean-based real estate investment company in October 2021 is reportedly zoned for up to 981,000 square feet (91,150 sqm) of data center development.
A business entity linked to Joel Barkman and John Grew owns a 60-acre industrial-zoned parcel in the Catlett Service District, with frontage on Va. 28 and Gaskins Lane. While the property is zoned for a wide range of industrial uses, data centers are not currently a by-right use of the land.
According to Project Solutions Group and previous sales brochures, the Vint Hill Technology Campus spans approximately 75 acres and can accommodate more than 1 million square feet of data center facilities.
The Vint Hill site is opposite to where a planned assisted living facility for veterans is being developed. The Puller Veterans Care Center (Puller VCC) in Fauquier County is set to open in Spring 2023.
OVHcloud has a facility on the same road, located to the south of Vint Hill on 6872 Watson Ct that launched in 2017.
Catlett is a small area near Route 28 in southeastern Fauquier County. Last year landowner Catlett Station II LLC filed to rezone 60 acres of land for data center development.
The Catlett Data Center Park concept plan shows two data center structures on the site totaling 450,000 square feet (41,800 sqm). At the time Catlett Station II LLC said it was under contract to sell the property to an unnamed “national, well-regarded data center developer” who plans to develop the site for an also-unnamed “very desirable tenant.”
While Northern Virginia is a major data center hub, Fauquier County is not traditionally where operators look to place facilities. However, AWS has a data center on the DoD’s nearby Warrenton Training Center campus, built in 2016.
Amazon was also looking to develop a data center in the Fauquier County town of Warrenton, but local officials recently voted to ‘indefinitely postpone’ the proposal amid local opposition. Officials said the project was on hold until the commission gets more information from Amazon about several aspects of the application, which was reportedly “incomplete.”
At least two other Warrenton sites are being marketed as potential locations for data center developments in the town that could accommodate more than 1.3 million sq ft (120,000 sqm) of development across almost 60 acres.
