Amazon Pays $427M for Northern Virginia Campus

Amazon Data Services, a subsidiary of Amazon Web Services, has acquired a 122-acre campus in Northern Virginia’s Loudoun County from George Washington University for $427 million, or about $3.5 million per acre. The Ashburn site is located in the top U.S. data center market.

While Amazon has not announced plans for the campus, the school newspaper, the GW Hatchet, was the first to report the sale and Amazon’s intentions to develop a data center or information technology center there.

“George Washington University’s sale of their Virginia Science and Technology campus to Amazon for data center development is a huge win for the GW system, Amazon and the local community,” Sean Farney, JLL’s vice president of Data Center Strategy, Americas, told Commercial Property Executive. 

With a budget shortfall at that campus, the school was in a tough spot financially and that the sale will fund both a new endowment and spot bonuses for faculty and staff, Farney said. “For Amazon, they get to revenue faster by leveraging a developed site and drive carbon-impact down by employing adaptive reuse; the best form of industrial recycling.” He added that the community will get net-new high paying jobs, a massive bump in tax base, retrofit and remodel work for the trades, and are spared from the indignity of shuttering the site.

“As our tech-infused culture—driven by an exponential explosion of devices, streaming, and this digitally native generation—demands more and more data compute and storage, Amazon and the other Tech Giants are finding ways to fulfill to society’s voracious appetite for bits, sustainably and creatively,” Farney said.   

The Virginia land purchase comes a week after Amazon announced it was partnering with STACK Infrastructure as part of a $12 billion investment in data center developments in Northwest Louisiana. The facilities, Amazon’s first in Louisiana, will support artificial intelligence and cloud computing technologies, driven by accelerating AI data center demand. Last June, Amazon launched a $10 billion investment for a new innovation campus east of Charlotte, N.C., in the Energy Way Industrial Park.

Under the Loudoun County deal, which closed last week, the Washington, D.C.,-based private university can maintain operations at its Virginia Science and Technology Campus for up to five years. The university’s nursing school and research labs are located at the site. The campus also features cybersecurity, education, engineering, health sciences and information technology programs.

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A university spokesperson told The Washington Post that potential buyers have expressed interest in acquiring the campus in the past. The campus dates back to 1991, when donations from Robert Smith, a local real estate developer known for building the mixed-use community Crystal City in Arlington County, helped fund the first 50 acres. Crystal City is now part of National Landing, which includes the site of Amazon’s second headquarters known as Amazon HQ2.

In a letter to the GW community, President Ellen Granberg stated the sale was part of a broader strategy to strengthen the university’s long-term financial health. Part of that strategy involves assessing how to best use the school’s resources, including its real estate portfolio, she said. The university has been facing recent financial problems, including a $24 million structural deficit as of July and budget cuts to programs and staff, according to the Washington Business Journal.

Money from the sale won’t close the budget gap, but Granberg stated the university plans to direct part of the proceeds to fund research, its teaching mission and student financial aid.

Growing investment and demand

The purchase of the GW campus is part of Amazon’s ongoing data center development and operations in Virginia. In January 2023, Amazon Web Services announced it was investing $35 billion through 2040, effectively doubling its presence in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Amazon has more AWS data centers in Virginia than in any other U.S. location. Between 2006, when Amazon brought its first facility online, and early 2023, the company had invested more than $35 billion in the region. Of the 54 permits filed for new data centers in Virigina in the first nine months of 2025, Amazon had the most requests, according to the Business Insider. The outlet stated it was the state’s single-largest increase in planned data centers in one year, and a 16 percent increase from 2024.

Last summer, Blackstone refinanced a $550 million CMBS loan backed by a 10-property, 1.7 million-square-foot data center portfolio spread across Northern Virginia, including Ashburn, that is fully occupied by Amazon Web Services.

Challenges ahead?

While Northern Virginia continues to be the world’s largest data center hub, state and local officials there and in other parts of the U.S. are beginning to question the benefits of the data centers and the stimulus packages they’ve been offering for years. The recent surge in data center development to meet the demand for capacity is putting a strain on power supply and infrastructure, illustrating evolving data center industry trends. Some officials are seeking to slow down construction and scrutinize proposals more closely.

Amazon may face challenges in Loudoun County if it’s planning a data center campus on the GW site. A Loudoun County supervisor told The Washington Post a 2023 zoning law change now requires a special exception to build data centers on that site. Juli Briskman told the newspaper she would fight a data center project because she would like to see the county diversify its economy. She also cited power concerns and the need for more housing to be built.

Buddy Rizer, Loudoun County director of economic development, told the Washington Business Journal the county Board of Supervisors was no longer allowing built-by-right projects. He noted the board’s vision for the area doesn’t include more data centers.