The Richmond industrial market has been undergoing a dramatic transformation that reads like a case study in strategic positioning and timing. Over the past decade, this “regional market” has become a U.S. powerhouse, boasting all the ingredients to attract, maintain and organically grow supply-chain focused global occupiers and institutional capital investment. Richmond’s strategic advantages include its prime location on I-95 — equidistant to both metropolitan D.C. and the Port of Virginia — attractive labor demographics, disciplined development and strong demand from Fortune 100 occupiers. Additionally, the surging data center hyperscalers and their suppliers have further catalyzed growth in the market. The result? Richmond now features one of the lowest U.S. vacancy rates, sustained year-over-year rent growth, a feeding frenzy of institutional capital routinely producing 10 to 15 bids and lender quotes per property that have fundamentally reshaped who owns, develops and finances industrial real estate in the market. From regional player to national stage Over the past decade, Richmond experienced a 68 percent increase in institutional investors and lenders, growing from 47 participants in 2015 to nearly 80 unique institutions that have invested in and loaned on Richmond industrial assets, with 50 cents of every dollar invested in Richmond coming from …
INDIANA — Amazon has unveiled plans to invest an estimated $15 billion in northern Indiana to build new data center campuses to support artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing technologies. The company says that generative AI is driving increased demand for advanced cloud infrastructure and compute power. The investment is in addition to the $11 billion investment announced last year in St. Joseph County and will expand Amazon’s infrastructure to new sites across Indiana. The new project will add 2.4 gigawatts of data center capacity in the region. The investment is expected to create more than 1,100 new high-skilled jobs while supporting thousands of other jobs in the data center supply chain. Amazon has partnered with NIPSCO to power its data centers. Through its newly created subsidiary NIPSCO Generation LLC, Amazon will pay fees to use existing power lines and cover the costs for any new power plants, power lines or equipment needed to serve the data center project without additional cost to local residents and businesses. These cloud computing and AI innovation campuses join Amazon’s operations footprint across Indiana that now includes 15 fulfillment and sortation centers, 11 delivery stations and data centers in New Carlisle, Ind. Since 2010, …
SEATTLE AND WASHINGTON, D.C. — Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) has announced an investment up to $50 billion to expand artificial intelligence (AI) and supercomputing abilities for Amazon Web Services (AWS) U.S. government clients. Amazon will break ground beginning next year on advanced data centers that will add 1.3 gigawatts of AI and supercomputing capacity. AWS currently supports more than 11,000 government agencies. The cloud computing software provides security, compliance and governance tools for the government control of unclassified and classified data. The new investment is expected to enable federal government agencies — including defense, healthcare and energy departments — in their discovery and decision-making processes using simulation and modeling data with AI. Amazon’s investment directly supports the Trump Administration’s AI Action Plan outlined in June 2025. “Our investment in purpose-built government AI and cloud infrastructure will fundamentally transform how federal agencies leverage supercomputing,” says Matt Garman, CEO of AWS. “We’re giving agencies expanded access to advanced AI capabilities that will enable them to accelerate critical missions from cybersecurity to drug discovery. This investment removes the technology barriers that have held government back and further positions America to lead in the AI era.” Amazon’s investment is the latest deal in the private sector’s …
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIF. — Google will invest approximately $40 billion in Texas data centers through 2027 as the Silicon Valley-based tech giant looks to expand its cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure capabilities. Google CEO Sundar Pichai made the announcement on Nov. 14 via a LinkedIn post, stating that the investment would also include the development of three new data center campuses in Armstrong and Haskell counties. Google said that one of its new campuses in Haskell County, which is located roughly midway between Fort Worth and Lubbock, will be built alongside a new solar and battery storage plant. Google also said in the post that it plans to “train existing electrical workers and more than 1,700 apprentices in Texas by 2030, more than doubling the projected pipeline of new electricians in the state.” As part of the investment, Google has also committed to an initiative to “strengthen energy resilience and abundance, as well as [to] support community energy efficiency initiatives through a new $30 million Energy Impact Fund.” According to Data Center Dynamics, Google is also planning an expansion of its existing data center facilities in Ellis County, which is located south of Dallas and encompasses the city of …
BRISTOW, VA. — An affiliate of e-commerce giant Amazon, Amazon Data Services, has acquired a site in Prince William County for a future data center campus. The firm acquired the undeveloped site near Devlin Road and I-66 in Bristow for $700 million, according to Washington Business Journal. CoStar Group reports that Stanley Martin Homes, a Reston, Va.-based homebuilder, sold the 188-acre site to Amazon and that Eastdil Secured represented the land seller in the deal. Washington Business Journal reports that the Prince William Board of County Supervisors rezoned the site for data center development in November 2023 and has since been in a legal dispute, with the Court of Appeals of Virginia recently upholding the county’s original rezoning decision.
NEW YORK CITY — Rudin has extended an existing $425 million CMBS loan backed by 32 Avenue of the Americas, a 27-story office tower in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood. The New York City-based owner-operator has also announced plans for a $100 million capital improvement program at the 1.2 million-square-foot Art Deco property, which also features a prominent data center/carrier hotel component. Rudin will introduce a prebuilt program of new work environments at 32 Avenue of the Americas that will range in size from 5,000 to 10,000 square feet. The company will also upgrade the building’s lobby and renovate its street-level retail space. Lastly, Rudin will create a new leasing/marketing center spanning the entire 25th floor, which also features two outdoor terraces that offer views of the Manhattan skyline. The tower’s mortgage will now mature in November 2029 should Rudin exercise both of its one-year renewal options in 2027 and 2028. Iron Hound Management Co. advised Rudin, which acquired the property in 1999 from AT&T, on the loan modification. The direct lender was not named. Rudin requested that its loan be transferred to an unnamed special servicer two months ahead of its November maturity in order to begin discussions on the loan modification. …
STAFFORD COUNTY, VA. — Vantage Data Centers will invest $2 billion to develop a 929,000-square-foot data center campus in Stafford County, which is situated near Fredericksburg, Va., and approximately 40 miles south of Washington, D.C. The new 192-megawatt (MW) campus, dubbed VA4, is situated just roughly 54 miles from Vantage’s three existing Virginia campuses in Northern Virginia’s “Data Center Alley” and brings the company’s statewide capacity to 782 MW with a combined investment of approximately $8 billion. Development of the new campus is expected to create 1,100 construction jobs and at least 50 permanent operations jobs. The first building at VA4 is scheduled to open in late 2027. VA4 will be built to achieve LEED Silver certification, in alignment with Vantage’s “sustainable by design” blueprint. The center will also utilize a closed-loop chilled water system that minimizes the need for large volumes of water. Additionally, VA4 will feature liquid-to-liquid cooling with coolant distribution unit (CDU) equipment, which can handle 100 percent of critical IT workloads.
PORT WASHINGTON, WIS. — Vantage Data Centers and the Wisconsin Building Trades Council have partnered to build the previously announced Lighthouse data center campus in Port Washington, a northern Milwaukee suburb located along Lake Michigan. The $15 billion-plus, privately funded investment will require a workforce of more than 4,000 skilled construction workers over a three-year period and will rely on local union labor to the fullest extent possible. The new campus, part of OpenAI and Oracle’s Stargate expansion, will feature four data centers. Completion is slated for 2028. Once complete, Vantage and Oracle will create more than 1,000 long-term jobs and thousands more indirect jobs. Lighthouse is designed to preserve local resources, support new clean energy resources and advance environmental stewardship.
By Felicia Santiago, architect, Gensler As artificial intelligence (AI) technologies evolve and scale, digital infrastructure must follow suit. While advocating for historic buildings to find new life via preservation as data centers is understandable, not every structure is well-suited for this type of repurposing. But this shouldn’t stop developers from overlooking two big opportunities for data center construction plays: revitalizing existing vacant properties as data centers and re-tooling legacy data centers for today’s AI needs. The beauty of adaptive reuse is that it theoretically preserves the existing fabric of community while incorporating modern infrastructure where it is needed — within the fabric of the community. Another opportunity to repurpose existing facilities into modern data centers involves potentially bypassing regulatory items that cause challenges and delays, such as rezoning, since these data centers would be grandfathered into that use. Legacy data centers — once the backbone of enterprise computing — are increasingly outdated and unable to support the energy intensity, cooling demands and density required by AI infrastructure. Rather than defaulting to new construction, there’s an urgent opportunity to recycle existing buildings. The sustainability practices of repurposed buildings should not be overlooked as the need for data centers continues to grow. …
SALINE TOWNSHIP, MICH. — OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, has unveiled plans to build a new Stargate campus in Saline Township near Ann Arbor as part of its 4.5-gigawatt partnership with Oracle. Combined with capacity from OpenAI’s six previously announced U.S. Stargate sites with Oracle and SoftBank, this project brings Stargate to more than 8 gigawatts of planned capacity and more than $450 billion in investment over the next three years. In January, the company announced a $500 billion, 10-gigawatt commitment. Related Digital is developing the Stargate Michigan campus. Construction is expected to begin in early 2026 and create more than 2,500 union construction jobs. DTE Energy will serve the campus using existing excess transmission capacity, avoiding impacts on local energy supply. OpenAI says that any upgrades required to support operations will be funded by the project and not local ratepayers. The project will span 1.6 million square feet across three buildings, according to Crain’s Detroit Busienss. OpenAI has previously announced Stargate sites in Texas, New Mexico, Wisconsin and Ohio.
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