Data center looks to buy an entire Virginia neighborhood
Homeowners in an Ashburn, Loudoun County, Virginia neighborhood are considering selling their properties collectively to a data center developer. Meanwhile, a large data center project in Prince William County, known as The Dulles South Innovation Center, was unanimously rejected by the county's board of supervisors, though developers maintain they are not walking away from the plan.
Mittal Gandhi and his neighbors in the Regency subdivision in Ashburn, Loudoun County, Virginia, are considering selling their homes to a data center developer. Gandhi, a real estate developer and former HOA president, brokered a deal for 143 homeowners to collectively sell their properties to a company intending to build a massive new data center. The terms of the deal are confidential, but reports suggest offers of $4 million per house. The deal requires all homeowners to agree, and some holdouts remain. Residents are grappling with the reality that data centers are already prevalent in the area, with some developments literally across the street.
The situation in Northern Virginia extends beyond Ashburn. In Prince William County, over 200 landowners are also exploring selling their properties for a proposed data center campus called The Dulles South Innovation Center. This project, encompassing nearly 2000 acres, would be the largest data center development in Prince William County's history. Earlier this month, the Prince William County Board of Supervisors unanimously rejected the plan, signaling significant opposition. Despite the rejection, developers have stated they are not abandoning the project. For residents like Gandhi, selling appears to be the most sensible option given the pervasive data center development in the region.