Microsoft is buying up large tracts across Loudoun and, now, Prince William counties for data center development.
Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) is at it again, acquiring 46 acres in western Prince William County, likely for a future data center or data center campus.
The tech giant followed up its $93.7 million purchase in August of 66 acres in southern Loudoun County with the $29 million buy of 11314 Balls Ford Road in Manassas, according to public records. The site sits between Interstate 66 and Balls Ford Road. It is zoned explicitly for data centers.
The seller is listed as Stonebridge Acquisitions LLC, which has an address that matches that of Scott Plank’s War Horse Cities in Baltimore, according to Prince William’s land records database. War Horse Cities did not respond to a request for comment. The LLC acquired the property in February 2019 for $12 million, and, as has so often been the case with data center land, flipped it quickly for a big profit.
Bethesda developer Stonebridge also claims that LLC name, but Principal Douglas Firstenberg said his firm is “not involved in that property.”
Microsoft officials were not immediately available for comment.
Loudoun County dominates the world for data center development. But the demand for large tracts of land in Northern Virginia is so great that neighboring Prince William is being tapped for similar deals. Loudoun data center land, especially in the Ashburn area, typically sells for $2 million per acre or more, but its southern neighbor remains a relatively affordable alternative.
In early August, an affiliate of Buchanan Partners sold a 130-acre data center site just west of the Manassas National Battlefield Park for $74.5 million, or nearly $773,100 an acre. Fairfax-based Peterson Cos. is partnering with Stack Infrastructure to develop 4 million square feet of data centers across 125 acres it assembled in Manassas, while Iron Mountain continues to invest capital into an existing campus.
Microsoft now controls at least 440 acres in Loudoun and Prince William for data center development, and it is believed to be on the hunt for more. Amazon Web Services, meanwhile, has a much larger presence — existing and in the pipeline — while the likes of Google, Apple and Facebook are all players in the area.