Massive Data Center Project Legal Defense Halted By Prince William County

MANASSAS, VA — Prince William County has abandoned efforts to revive a project that could have brought dozens of data centers to a massive campus in the Manassas Park area, the Prince William Times reports.

The county board of supervisors voted unanimously on Tuesday to drop its legal battle to protect the project and to end its use of outside legal counsel in that effort, after having spent more than $1.7 million to do so.

Rezonings for the mammoth Prince William Digital Gateway project were approved in December 2023 and have been fought bitterly at every step. The project envisioned a huge technological hub of more than 35 data centers spread over 2,100 acres.

Two lawsuits were filed against the project shortly after its approval, one by the Oak Valley Homeowners Association and another by the American Battlefield Trust. Opponents argued that the project would bring noise and water pollution to the county, tax its resources and threaten its rural and historic character, and that the county hadn't given proper public notice for the endeavor, the Virginia Mercury reports.

A judge first sided with opponents of the project in August 2025. A Virginia Court of Appeals ruled with them again on March 31, finding that the county hadn’t given proper public notice for the project.

Companies Compass Data Centers and QTS Data Centers, which were to build and operate the centers, can still appeal to the Virginia Supreme Court. They just won’t have the support of the county government if they do.

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