Huge Data Center Campus Proposed In Virginia Would Test New Guidelines Aimed At Curbing Such Projects

A new data center developer has proposed a large-scale campus in Virginia’s Fauquier County that could test recently enacted restrictions meant to curb such projects. 

Nascent development firm Gigaland plans to build a six-building data center campus on around 200 acres outside the town of Remington. First reported by the Fauquier Times, the campus would total 1.6M SF to 3.2M SF, depending on whether the buildings are one or two stories.

It is the first data center proposal since Fauquier officials enacted development guidelines aimed at curbing such projects in a largely rural county where a sudden wave of planned data centers has spurred significant community opposition. Fauquier County directly abuts data center hotspots Loudoun and Prince William counties to the south.

Gigaland paid $4M to buy the Remington property last October, according to the Fauquier Times. This would be the first known project for the firm, founded by Keller Williams Realty Dulles partner Art Lickunas and Roland Talalas, the CEO of window manufacturing firm INTUS Windows. 

The development site sits directly across the street from another planned data center campus, a 234-acre project known as the Remington Technology Park that was first proposed in 2018 but has yet to be developed. The Gigaland parcel is zoned for residential, with the company indicating it will submit its first rezoning application to county officials this fall. 

This could be a problem in Fauquier County, where officials enacted a new set of development guidelines in December aimed specifically at limiting data center growth and preserving the county’s largely rural character. While not traditionally a data center hotspot, the county attracted growing interest from a range of digital infrastructure firms.

In addition to the proposed Remington Technology Park, Amazon already operates a data center on a Department of Defense property in Warrenton and has been approved to build a second facility nearby.  OVHcloud has a data center in the county, and Headwaters Site Development is planning a campus on 66 acres in the town of Catlett. 

The potential influx of data centers into Fauquier County, particularly Amazon’s planned facility, has sparked organized opposition by residents — part of a growing wave of data center pushback across Virginia. The passage of development restrictions late last year was considered a victory for data center opponents. 

Gigaland’s project could be the first to test these new guidelines, according to the Fauquier Times. The firm is reportedly attempting to drum up support for the project among local residents before officially filing plans with the county, holding a public meeting with community members last month and knocking on over 150 doors. 

“We're really trying to be transparent in our approach — talking to the county, to the people, to the communities, to supervisors [and] interested parties, including environmental groups, activists, journalists,” said Talalas, according to the Fauquier Times. “If the county doesn't want us, no one is going to try to force it through.”

As Bisnow reported last month, industry insiders say this kind of proactive approach to community engagement can help avoid the kind of backlash that has derailed other projects in the region. Still, Gigaland has indicated it will pursue some sort of development on the property, industrial or residential, even if plans for a data center fall through.