GMU Begins Hunt For Developers To Expand Arlington Campus

ARLINGTON, VA -- George Mason University is about to get serious with its proposed expansion to its Arlington campus, according to news reports. The university is seeking private partners to help with an Amazon-inspired expansion to its Virginia Square campus.

Mason released a request for proposals on Tuesday, Feb. 4, according to the Washington Business Journal, looking for developers to help it build a new home for the school's Institute of Digital Innovation. The project would total 460,000 square feet in size, including 225,000 square feet of academic space along with 135,000 square feet of private office and retail. The aim is to have more room for classes and research labs, as well as space for big and small companies who might be interested in partnering with the university.

Mason's new School of Computing would benefit from the expansion, which bolsters the university's goal of increasing the number of high-tech graduates it will produce in the coming decades. The project is one of the benefits of state funding for new construction Mason received as part of Virginia's deal to bring Amazon to Arlington.

The deadline for RFP submissions is March 31. Hoping to release a shortlist of developers by May 12, the university aims to finalize the agreement by March 2021 and open the new building in time for the start of the 2025-2026 school year.

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GMU starts the search for developers for its Amazon-inspired Arlington campus expansion