From Civil War Battleground to Data Center Hub: Culpeper, Virginia Emerges as an Ideal Location for Hyperscalers

The vital importance of the Northern Virginia data center market is well understood by technology companies worldwide. So, too, is the dramatic reduction in available data center capacity that has impacted Ashburn and Sterling in Loudoun County over the past 12-18 months.

According to JLL’s North American Data Center Report, Northern Virginia experienced its fourth straight year of record demand in 2023. As a result, data center vacancy in the region remains below 2%.

This scarcity has inspired data center developers to look to surrounding counties in Virginia and neighboring states for development opportunities. Fortunately, one need not look further than just 60 miles from Ashburn to Culpeper, Virginia. This was once an agricultural area with a historic footprint – and now, it’s evolved to become more: Northern Virginia’s latest data center enclave.

Culpeper, Virginia: A Rich History

To walk down memory lane, many recognize Culpeper as the site of several Civil War battles, but it also served a vital role during the Cold War.

In preparation for a potential nuclear war with the Soviet Union, in 1969 the US Federal Reserve stockpiled billions of dollars in cash in an underground, three-story radiation-hardened structure in Culpeper, complete with a 30-day supply of food and water for 500 Federal employees.

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In addition to the currency reserves, the underground structure also housed and ensured the safekeeping of the central node in the Fedwire system that enables electronic bank transfers, referred to as the ‘Culpeper Switch’.

After the Cold War, the US government transferred the facility to the Library of Congress in 1997. The ultra-secure, underground facility is the perfect location to store priceless audio-visual materials, and today it is a mecca for film preservation, where experts add multiple petabytes of media each year.

Now, beyond being an ideal home for important physical and digital assets, Culpeper’s location is well-positioned to be a booming data center hub.

Culpeper (highlighted in green) is just 60 miles south of Loudoun County (orange)

Culpeper as a Modern Data Center Hub

Thanks to the location of the Fedwire system in Culpeper, a rich fiber network has grown in the area, providing redundant, ultra-low latency connectivity to data centers in Ashburn and beyond.

Due to the presence of this same highly interconnected network, Culpeper has been home to the NAP of the Capital Region since 2008.

On top of providing access to a multitude of fiber networks, Culpeper has what many Tier 1 data center markets today lack: available land and power. The largely rural area includes a 690-acre campus named the Culpeper Tech Zone (CTZ), which is designated to host data centers and public works entities, including Dominion Energy and Rappahannock Electric Cooperative.

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Energy transmission in the CTZ is handled by Dominion, and Rappahannock and Dominion split the local energy distribution throughout the CTZ into two territories, providing optionality for data center developers on the campus.

The Opportunity

Thoughtful planning for the CTZ by the Culpeper County Economic Development (CCED) board of directors provides a data center workforce pipeline via the Culpeper Technology Education Center (CTEC) and Germanna Community College (GCC).

Both the CTEC and GCC are working with the CCED to provide opportunities for high school and college age students to develop the trade and IT skills needed by data centers operating within the technology zone.

In addition to providing a data center workforce, available land and power, and network redundancy, the CTZ also offers both county and state tax incentives to developers and their customers. To ensure the CTZ benefits the Culpeper community as well as incoming developers, it was approved for only six data center sites – all of which have now been purchased.

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Interesting backstory aside, some have likened the Culpeper of today to pre-2008 Ashburn due to the availability of land, power, and fiber, making it an attractive new addition to a data center market portfolio, ideal for the artificial intelligence demands and cloud requirements of the world’s largest technology companies today.

Those looking for data center capacity to propel innovation should look no further than Culpeper, Virginia – the location of promise.

Michael Shaw is vice president of land acquisition at EdgeCore Digital Infrastructure.