HOA leaders propose data center land swap
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors is considering selling county-owned land in Chantilly to a private developer for a data center.
The property, located at 3721 Stonecroft Blvd., is in an industrial area near Dulles Airport and other data centers. The proposed agreement would allow the county to sell approximately 41.7 acres of the 128-acre property to Starwood Capital Group (SCG Global Holdings LLC) for $166.8 million.
The property is currently used as a training facility for the Fairfax County Police Department. The funds from the sale would be used to defray the cost of the construction of a new Criminal Justice Academy and related training activities.
At the Board of Supervisors Feb. 17 meeting, the board authorized a public hearing on the land sale. The hearing would be scheduled for March 17.
Affordable housing
A group of HOA leaders from Bren Mar Park has a better, more innovative idea. They propose a land swap with the 34-acre property owned by Starwood Capital Group at Plaza 500 on Edsall Road, where the company plans to build a data center.
As a result, they say, the county could use the Plaza 500 site to develop affordable housing, which the Board of Supervisors identified as a key priority.
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The presidents of the Bren Pointe, Overlook, Jefferson Green, Ridges at Edsall, and Landmark Mews community associations outlined the land swap proposal in a Feb. 16 letter to Fairfax County Board Chair Jeff McKay, Vice Chair Kathy Smith, and Mason Supervisor Andres Jimenez.
“Plaza 500 is a prime 34.1-acre transit-oriented site just over half a mile from a major Metro station in a rapidly developing residential and mixed-use corridor that would allow over 1,000 affordable housing units, depending on unit type,” the letter states.
Affordable housing would be a better fit for the Plaza 500 site than a data center and adjacent electrical substation. The property is surrounded by residences, and the Bren Mar Park HOA leaders have fought for years against a data center and substation in their backyards.
A win-win
“Pursuit of this deal would also resolve a long-gestating inconsistent use conflict between residents, adjacent landowners, and Starwood Capital Group over a not-yet-fully-approved data center campus and electrical substation,” the HOA leaders say.
The Board of Supervisors is allowing plans for the data center and substation at Plaza 500 to move forward, even though neither one complies with recently approved Zoning Ordinance amendments.
The land swap is a “win-win for the county,” the community leaders say, as it would help the county meet its goals for affordable housing, while generating data center tax revenue and providing funds for a new Criminal Justice Academy.
Related story: BoS backs data center industry on substations, rejects residents’ concerns
They offer an alternative if the Board of Supervisors determines that the full acquisition of Plaza 500 by land swap is not possible. In that case, they propose relocating the substation to the existing Van Dorn substation, which is not near residences. Starwood could then donate the five acres planned for the substation site to the county for a more limited affordable housing development with about 150 units.
According to Fairfax County, the property at Stonecroft Boulevard in Chantilly “remains an important location for police training, but the current facilities are spread out in a way that leaves portions of the property underutilized.” Those facilities include a driver training track, a firearms training center, a rifle range, and a K-9 training area.
Criminal Justice Academy
“By moving and grouping these facilities together, the county can free up land to sell,” the county states. The county would retain 87 acres, which would also provide space for a new Criminal Justice Academy to replace the one nearby at 14601 Lee Road in Chantilly.
Fairfax County anticipates that the development of the Starwood data center would generate more than $20 million in tax revenue in the first year after completion.
According to Tyler Ray, president of the Bren Pointe HOA, Starwood is offering $4 million per acre for the Chantilly property, while it paid $4.8 million per acre for the Plaza 500 site.
“There is no requirement for the county to sell this property, but if the board chooses to do so, the 3721 Stonecroft Drive site is too valuable for a simple cash sale,” the HOA letter states.
“The property’s broad by-right industrial use,” it says, “coupled with the surging value and demand of land for data center development across Northern Virginia, creates the possibility for a once-in-a-generation land swap for a prime transit-oriented 1,000+ unit affordable housing development.”
Land swaps are nothing new for the Fairfax County government. In 2017, for example, the BoS agreed to a land swap on Columbia Pike in Bailey’s Crossroads, which led to the development of the Alta Nova Apartments on the site of the former Bailey’s Shelter on Moncure Avenue, while the county obtained an adjacent property currently planned for affordable housing.
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