Amazon abandons data centres plan it paid $427 mn for; donates $5 mn for housing

Amazon agreed to abandon its data centers plan and pledge 25 acres for public facilities and $5 million for housing

Amazon has abandoned its plan to expand its data centre footprint in Virginia. 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.

It has now withdrawn its application to develop the data centres. 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.The agreement is called “Project Potomac Promise” by Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Chair Phyllis Randall.

It calls for the e-commerce giant to withdraw its data centre site plan, abandon legal action to pursue development on the property, and work with the county to rezone the remaining land for mixed-use development.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.

”

How Amazon abandoned plan to build $427 million data centres

As stated in a Fortune report, GW president Ellen Granberg announced the university had sold the campus in February this year. However, she did not disclose the buyer or purchase price. The university then said the transaction would help support its “long-term financial health.”

In March, the university’s student newspaper, The GW Hatchet, identified Amazon Data Services as the buyer, which purchased the property for $427 million.In July this year, Amazon filed a site plan for a proposed data centre development. Titled “Bridgefield Tech Centre,” the proposal asked for four two-story data centre buildings totaling more than 800,000 square feet.Algonkian district supervisor Juli Briskman asked county staff to study the possible impact of the proposed project.

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. However, by July, Briskman had raised concerns about adding another large data centre to the area.“Replacing the George Washington University campus with four massive data centre buildings would be a profound loss for our community,” Briskman said in a press release.

“The site offers a generational opportunity for education, research, housing, and other forms of economic development that could directly benefit Loudoun residents. I strongly oppose this proposal and will fight it every step of the way.”Amazon eventually chose to work out a deal with Loudoun County and dropped its plans to invest in the data centre project.“There was not a moment where it was decided that this was a bad idea,” Weissman said. “We just heard from the community. We partnered with Loudoun, and we just decided this was just the right thing to do.”