Amazon Pays $427M for 122-Acre NoVA Campus

More investors are securing massive paydays for future data center land in Northern Virginia.

George Washington University (GW) sold its 122-acre Virginia Science and Technology Campus in Ashburn — within data center mecca Loudoun County — to Amazon Data Services (ADS) for about $427 million, according to The Hatchet, GW’s student newspaper. 

ADS plans to entitle the land for data center development, adding to the thousands of acres it already controls in the region, though the deal permits GW to remain on the property for up to five years as the university relocates its programs.

Multiple buyers approached the university about acquiring the property in late 2024, Bruno Fernandes, GW’s chief financial officer, told The Hatchet late last week. Proceeds from the sale will help stanch GW’s recent financial woes, and pay for GW President Ellen Granberg’s strategic financial vision, unveiled last fall. Eligible GW faculty and staff are also set to receive a one-time bonus from the sale proceeds, Granberg said.

“As stewards of the university’s mission, we must continually assess how best to use our resources in service of our community and future generations of GW Revolutionaries,” Granberg said in a Friday letter announcing the sale. “This includes our real estate portfolio, a critical asset that supports our academic mission, the students, faculty, and staff who advance it, and the university’s long-term financial strength. With this in mind, the university had to take seriously the opportunity to realize the extraordinary benefits a sale at this time would yield.”

An Amazon spokesperson confirmed the purchase, adding that “any future considerations for development would involve community input, coordination with local leaders, and transparent public processes.” A spokesperson for GW confirmed the sale to Commercial Observer but did not provide more information. 

The Virginia Science and Technology Campus opened in 1991 and today provides graduate courses in nursing, health sciences, engineering and education. The center is a satellite of GW’s main campus 30 miles away in Washington, D.C.

The property’s assessed value is $107.3 million, according to deed records obtained by The Hatchet. While the Loudoun County Commissioner of Revenue earlier this year appraised GW’s assets in the county at $207 million, ADS’s willingness to fork over such a premium is typical of land sales these days in Northern Virginia.

Amazon alone has committed to spending $35 billion on Virginia data centers by 2040, on top of the billions it has already spent. In November, the tech behemoth paid Stanley Martin Homes $700 million for a vacant, 270-acre parcel near Bristow. The land is already entitled for up to 3.5 million square feet of data centers and three substations. 

Property in Northern Virginia has also become a land rush for private investors that had operated in the region well before the data center boom. Virginia native and moving services entrepreneur Chuck Kuhn, for example, has seen stunning returns for parcels he’s assembled and entitled across Northern Virginia. The same month as Amazon’s Bristow purchase, Kuhn’s holding company sold a 97-acre parcel near Leesburg to SDS Capital for $615 million. In early 2024, Kuhn sold a 124-acre parcel in Prince William County to Microsoft for $465.5 million. 

Nick Trombola can be reached at ntrombola@commercialobserver.com.