AWS on the former GW campus (Bridgefield Tech Center)

George Washington University sold its Virginia Science and Technology Campus in Ashburn to Amazon Data Services in early 2026 for $427 million. GW can stay on the campus for up to five years, and Amazon says construction would not start until the campus is vacated.[2]

In late July 2026 Amazon filed a site plan, EPLAN-2026-0110, called Bridgefield Tech Center, for data center buildings on the campus.[1] A site plan is an administrative application. It goes to county staff, with no Planning Commission hearing, no Board hearing and no Board vote.

The Oct. 20 agreement

On Oct. 20, 2026 Board Chair Phyllis Randall announced that Amazon will withdraw its data center application for the campus and drop any legal action to build data centers there. Amazon will donate 25 acres to the county, valued at $65 million, and give $5 million to the county's Housing Fund. The county will fast-track a rezoning for mixed use on the rest of the property, and data centers would not be a permitted use. Randall said even a fast-tracked rezoning could take up to a year.[4]

The by-right question

The campus sits in the Route 28 tax district, where data centers have long been allowed by right. Supervisor Juli Briskman (Algonkian), whose district includes the site, says the application relies on "outdated zoning policies" to skip the public process that new data centers now go through.[2] In March, county economic development director Buddy Rizer said, "We do not think that data centers can be built there by right."[3]

Two other records bear on that question. On July 30, 2026 the county Zoning Administrator said the county's 2000 determination treating data centers as an office use is no longer in effect. And on Aug. 14, 2026 a request was filed asking the Zoning Administrator to determine whether a data center is allowed on these parcels by right, without a special exception, and objecting to by-right processing of the site plan.

Who decides

County staff review the site plan, and the Zoning Administrator answers the zoning question, which can be appealed. Amazon calls the site plan the first formal step "in a lengthy review process."[2] The pause the Board directed on Sept. 15 covers legislative applications. It does not reach a site plan like this one.