Amazon AWS: Amazon postpones Virginia campus

Amazon has pressed pause on its 1 million sq ft (92,900 sqm) data center campus in Manassas, in Prince William County, Virginia. This announcement comes after the giant was scheduled to present three linked applications on 30 November. However, its special-use permit application has now been ‘tabled indefinitely’ after a request by the company. 

The company first filed its application for the data center last year, which was to be located on an 80-acre property that sits between Ashton Avenue and Sudley Road and next to Manassas mall in Prince William County. Proposals had outlined that the company’s plans to build four two-story data centers and a substation on the site. As per the proposal outline, each building would span 256,500 sq ft (23,800 sqm) of floor space.

Interestingly, County staff had already opposed the project and recommended rejecting the proposal citing its incompatibility with neighboring residential and commercial properties. Likewise, staff cited a number of other reasons, including that Amazon’s application had not provided “reasonable assurances” of noise mitigation, lacked detail regarding power lines, alongside a failure to feature adequate screening.