$3 billion data center campus coming to eastern Powhatan
VENN
POWHATAN COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) -- A $3 billion, 181-acre data center campus is coming to eastern Powhatan County following a unanimous vote by its Board of Supervisors.
On Monday, Oct. 28, the Powhatan County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 in favor of a rezoning request related to a data center campus on its eastern boundary with Chesterfield County, per an Oct. 29 press release.
The request, made by Newport Equities, LLC, rezoned just under 62 acres of land off of Page Road near Anderson Highway from agricultural to light industrial. When combined with the 120 acres that were similarly rezoned for this purpose in 2024, the full data center campus will total about 181 acres.
"In taking the vote, supervisors noted the significant tax revenue that would be generated by the data center, which would reduce the county's reliance on residential property taxes," the county said in the release. "Currently, residential property makes up just over 93% of all property values across the county, compared to less than 7% for commercial property."
It's estimated that the data center, once complete, will generate about $10 million in additional annual property tax revenue.
"I think this project will be a phenomenal addition to Powhatan and the future of this county, especially to really balance out the revenue between commercial and residential [property taxes,]" said vice chairman Mark Kinney in the release.
The data center itself will be 2 million square feet in size once complete, according to the county. The board also voted to allow data center structures to be up to 90 feet tall with "proper screening," far exceeding the typical 45-foot height limit.
However, the developer also agreed to several proffers -- or conditions -- set by the county. This includes building setbacks and natural buffers along the property line and traffic improvements on Anderson Highway.
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The developer will also have to enter into a utility agreement with Powhatan and make both on-site and off-site utility improvements, "including contributing to improvements and upgrades for the county's utility system required to serve the site," the county said.
The board's decision on Monday comes after the county's Planning Commission unanimously reccomended that the request be denied.
In Tuesday's press release, the county explained what changed.
"Staff and the Planning Commission initially reccomended denial of the rezoning request based on the absence of proffers addressing the contribution to the utility system," officials said. "However, the inclusion of these proffers afer the Planning Commission vote resulted in staff reccomending approval of the request."
Virginia is largely considered the data center capital of the world, as it has the largest data center concentration globally.
