Amazon Abandons Four Loudoun Data Centers for Housing and Public Land

Amazon dropped plans for four data centers on the former George Washington University campus in Loudoun County, Virginia, and will instead develop much of the 122-acre property for mixed-use and residential purposes. The company filed its proposal for the facilities in July. The Washington Post reported the agreement.

Amazon will hand 25 acres of the site to the county for a community arts center and a recreational facility. The company will also pay $5 million into the county housing fund. Residents had raised concerns about the noise data centers create and the amount of electricity they consume. The county's position on new construction has shifted in recent months.

Loudoun County is nicknamed Data Center Alley because it holds the largest concentration of such facilities in the world. Amazon bought the former campus quickly when the opportunity arose, according to Josh Weissman, the company's vice president for data center development. He said the company considered the county's pointed concerns about data center development at this particular site. He also said Amazon and the County view the property's legal development potential differently, but that both sides chose to build a shared vision for the campus rather than fight in court.

Phyllis J. Randall, chair of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, met Amazon in September and raised the possibility of another use for the land. She said the deal came from dialogue rather than reflexive disagreement. She also said the county will provide attainable homes for working families.

Demand for data centers has grown alongside cloud services and AI use, bringing larger facilities and opposition from communities concerned about electricity prices, water shortages, and deforestation. Days before the Loudoun announcement, President Donald Trump called on data center builders and AI hyperscalers to pay local communities a dividend amid energy-related price increases. In a social media post, he said data centers would need to generate their own power and sell surplus energy back to the community.

Loudoun County is located just outside Washington, D.C. Amazon filed the proposal for the four facilities in July.