Luckstone seeking permission for four data centers totaling around 1 million sq ft.
Amazon has acquired land in Leesburg, Virginia for potential data center development.BizJournal reports Amazon Data Services Inc. paid $195 million for 97 acres centered at 41789 Cochran Mill Road in Northern Virginia’s Loudoun County from Luck Stone Corp.
“We are constantly evaluating new locations based on customer demand," an Amazon spokesperson told BJ in an email.
Luck Stone has been seeking to rezone the land for data center use since 2023; the company has downsized from its original plans and is currently requesting permission for four two-story data center buildings totaling around one million square feet (92,903 sqm).
Luck Stone has operated a quarry at the site since the early 1970s. When the company first submitted a request for a pre-application in 2022, Jon Riley, the general manager of Luck Real Estate Ventures, said the company had been approached by “more than one” data center company for this piece of its property.
Supervisors defer JK Land request for data center in Leesburg
Loudoun Now this week reported that the county board of supervisors deferred another data center request nearby to the Amazon-acquired land after it failed to garner enough support.
JK Land Holdings had requested permission for up to 742,000 sq ft (68,934 sqm) of data center use along Crosstrail Boulevard and Sycolin Road just south of Leesburg Executive Airport. The development is known as the Cross Mill Center.
The Loudoun planning commission and county staff had both recommended approval.
After revision, JK Land Holdings had reduced the request down from the original 928,000 sq ft (86,214 sqm).
A motion to approve the application by Supervisor Caleb A. Kershner (R-Catoctin) failed with supervisors opposing the motion, citing concerns about compatibility with the surrounding area and proximity to the Leesburg Executive Airport.
Supervisor Laura A. TeKrony (D-Little River) said there are better uses for the area than data centers.
“This is not an industrial area. The property is next to Bolen [Memorial] Park, off Crosstrail Boulevard that has very steep slopes. It's also adjacent to a gravel road,” she said.
A motion by Briskman to deny the application was stopped by a second motion by Kershner to defer the item. The project will come before the board again on June 3.
JK Land Holdings and its owner, Chuck Kuhn, are major data center players in Loudoun County, with multiple projects in various stages of development across the region.
Chesterfield County planning officials recommend approval for two data center campuses
Beyond Loudoun, two data center campuses planned outside Richmond in Chesterfield County moved a step closer to approval.
Richmond Bizsense reports the Chesterfield County planning commission last month unanimously voted to recommend approval of requests by the county’s Economic Development Authority to rezone more than 1,300 acres for two data center campuses.
The first project would be near Moseley on the upper Magnolia Green west tract, and the other on part of the Watkins Centre near Westchester Commons.
First proposed earlier this year, the Upper Magnolia Green project would cover 970 acres, portions of which were rezoned in 2022 for a technology park. Split into two tracts - the first is 870 acres, and the development would be limited to data centers and related accessory uses. Tract B would be limited to data centers, offices, labs, pharmaceutical products, manufacturing, and R&D facilities, and a few other principal uses.
Neither the number nor the scope of any data centers that could be developed on the two plots has been shared.
County staff had recommended approval for the rezoning.
