More Data Centers In Development, Manassas Economic Development Officials Say

MANASSAS, VA — Progress on new data centers was among the economic development initiatives discussed with Manassas City Council Monday.

As part of the Manassas Economic Development's annual report to the city council, Economic Development Director Patrick Small noted there are four new data center sites. The projects are each expected to bring millions in new tax revenue to the city.

One of these data centers is already complete at 9905 Godwin Drive, which redeveloped the 18-acre Glen-Gery Brickyard site. Digital Realty, a data center real estate investment trust, constructed the 185,000-square-foot data center and completed it in 2024.

"The Brickyard had run its useful life. It was the oldest industrial facility in the city. It was unsightly. It was underutilized," said Small.

A single data center tenant is located at the site. The city estimated $4 million to $6 million in new annual tax revenue from the data center site. Small noted that significant revenues were anticipated from the business personal property tax on the computer equipment. The site's assessed property value increased from about $12 million to over $76 million.

Three other sites have data center projects in development. At Dean Drive and Wellington Road, Amazon Web Services bought two vacant industrial land parcels. Construction has begun on a 250,000-square-foot data center. The city estimated the data center will bring $4 million to $6 million in annual tax revenue.

"I know the planning department and my department spent a lot of time with AWS, insisting that that is an entryway to our historic downtown, and it needs to be one of the nicer looking data centers they've ever built," said Small. "So the architecture should be more pleasing than some of the just painted buildings you might see elsewhere. And AWS has been a great corporate partner."

Adjacent to the Amazon Web Services site at Dean and Wellington Drive, Black Chamber group demolished the former Technology Drive Self Storage for data center development. Two new data centers are being constructed and will be leased to Amazon Web Services. Estimated annual tax revenue to the city will be $8 million to $12 million.

Lastly, a site near the Manassas Regional Airport will become another Amazon Web Services data center. The city sold the 20-acre site to Amazon Web Services for $27.72 million in 2023. Preliminary site planning has started. The data center is projected to bring $4 million to $6 million in revenue to the city each year.

"There were no incentives used by city council to attract these facilities, so this is all net new revenue to our community," said Small.

Data centers have been spurring conversations on the state level as well. In his 2025 State of the Commonwealth address, Gov. Glenn Youngkin said Virginia "should continue to be the data center capitol of the world," citing over $9 billion in gross domestic product for the state and additional local revenue to fund key services. The governor urged state lawmakers to not hinder local decisions on data centers.

There are various proposed state bills seeking better regulation of data centers. In the meantime, Small believes the city is handling them correctly.

"We already require many of the things that are the subject of legislation, like noise studies, height studies," said Small. "Otherwise, we require them to hold to a high architectural standard. We put them in places that are zoned for industrial use."

Along with the data center update, Small highlighted The Landing mixed-use development, the Manassas Shopping Center acquisition, the Olde Towne Inn redevelopment, the Micron expansion, and more initiatives contributing to the city's economic growth. More information is available in the economic development presentation to city council.