Virginia Business highlighted DataBank’s strategic expansion into Culpeper County’s Technology Zone, addressing land availability challenges in Northern Virginia’s increasingly crowded data center market.
COO Joe Minarik explained that finding adequately sized sites had become difficult in traditional locations like Ashburn’s Data Center Alley, prompting the company to seek new opportunities in emerging Virginia markets with available infrastructure and workforce resources.
DataBank secured 85 acres in the 690-acre Culpeper Technology Zone for its fourth Virginia campus, planning three facilities totaling 1.4 million square feet with groundbreaking scheduled for early 2025. The first building should come online around 2027 or 2028, requiring hundreds of construction workers initially and 50 to 60 operational staff per facility once complete.
“Culpeper tipped the scale for our ability to get there, and it’s already starting to develop. You’re seeing other data center providers grow theirs there.”
— Joe Minarik, COO of DataBank
The zone offers developers significant advantages including fiber access, reliable electricity, tax incentives providing 40% rebates over five years, and proximity to workforce training facilities like the Culpeper Technical Education Center. Minarik praised the consolidated approach that streamlines development while addressing power needs efficiently, positioning Culpeper as an attractive alternative to increasingly constrained Northern Virginia locations.
Discover how DataBank and other providers are transforming Culpeper’s technology landscape in Virginia Business.
