George Mason Breaks Ground On $243M Centerpiece Of Arlington Campus

ARLINGTON, VA — George Mason University broke ground Wednesday on Fuse at Mason Square, a building that will become the centerpiece of the university's Arlington campus.

George Mason University President Gregory Washington was joined by local and state officials in celebrating the start of construction of the new 345,000-square-foot facility.

The new $242.8 million building, located at 3401 Fairfax Drive in Arlington, will house faculty and students working with the Institute for Digital Innovation and will be used by graduate programs from George Mason's new School of Computing.

Last month, GMU announced that it had renamed its Arlington campus in the Virginia Square neighborhood as Mason Square.

The new building, scheduled to open in 2025, was inspired in part by Amazon's decision to move its second headquarters to the county.

“We are not just breaking ground on a building — we are truly breaking ground on Virginia’s future,” Washington said at Wednesday's ceremony in Arlington. "Fuse at Mason Square will rise into the Arlington skyline."

George Mason University said the expansion at its Arlington campus supports Virginia's Tech Talent Investment Program, a 20-year program designed to produce 25,000 additional graduates in computer science, computer engineering and software engineering.

George Mason University is one of 11 universities taking part in the program, committing to graduate 2,277 bachelor's and 5,328 master's degree holders over the next two decades.

“We’re all looking forward very much to see the institutional growth here, the people who will gather and collide here, and the innovations that will emanate from here,” Paul Misener, Amazon’s vice president for global innovation policy and communications, and a graduate of George Mason University's law school, said at the ceremony.

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Other speakers at the ceremony included Virginia Secretary of Education Aimee Rogstad Guidera, Clark Construction Group Senior Vice President Dave Tacchetti, and Arlington County Board Chair Katie Cristol.

Developed in partnership with Mason Innovation Partners, led by Edgemoor Infrastructure and Real Estate, Fuse at Mason Square will feature a green roof for energy-efficient heating and cooling and specialized labs for robotics, virtual reality, simulation, security and data visualization.

Other amenities will include community seating in a double-height atrium, a 750-seat theater-style multipurpose room, retail, a public plaza and a below-grade parking garage, making it a natural gathering place for the campus and nearby community.