Globalinx expands Virginia Beach cable landing station campus with $1.8M land purchase

Globalinx, a carrier-neutral data center and cable landing station operator, is moving forward with the third phase of its Virginia Beach campus after securing additional land from the city's development authority. The transaction comes at a time when local officials are weighing a temporary halt on new data center permits, adding a layer of uncertainty to the region's fast-growing digital infrastructure sector.

The Virginia Beach Development Authority agreed this month to sell nine acres of land in the Corporate Landing Business Park to Globalinx for $1.8 million, according to local reports from Virginia Business and the Virginian-Pilot. The acquisition will support the construction of an 85,000-square-foot (7,896 sqm), 25MW facility, a project valued at approximately $65 million. The new build will accommodate additional cable landing stations, as well as carrier-neutral colocation and interconnection space. The company did not disclose a timeline for development.

The expansion marks a significant milestone for Globalinx, which first announced its Virginia Beach campus in 2016. Construction on the first phase began around 2018 and the facility came online the following year. The company is currently developing a second phase on the same campus, and the newly acquired parcel will enable the third phase of its long-term growth strategy in the region.

The land deal comes, however, as Virginia Beach city officials consider a one-year moratorium on data center development. The city council is scheduled to vote on a resolution this week that would block new permitting, a move that could affect future projects in the area. The proposed moratorium reflects growing local scrutiny over the environmental and infrastructural impacts of data center expansion along the East Coast.

Beyond Virginia Beach, Globalinx is also planning to develop a backup data center in Portsmouth, a city located roughly 20 miles west of its existing site. In addition, the company is seeking to build a cable landing station in Ocean City, Maryland, to support Amazon's FastNet subsea cable system. That project faces its own hurdles, as Worcester County officials are looking to block the development through a separate moratorium.

The expansion underscores the strategic importance of cable landing stations as demand for international connectivity and cloud services continues to surge. By strengthening its footprint in Virginia Beach, Globalinx is positioning itself to capture growing traffic from subsea cables while offering colocation and interconnection services to carriers and enterprises. However, the pending moratoriums in both Virginia and Maryland highlight a broader tension between infrastructure growth and local regulatory pushback, a dynamic that could shape the pace of data center development in the region for years to come.