One backer of a massive data center planned near a Civil War battlefield is trying to revive the project with an appeal to the Virginia Supreme Court this week, filed just one day after another developer pulled out citing ongoing legal challenges.
Neighbors have objected to Digital Gateway — a 37-building data center complex slated for a tract next to the Manassas National Battlefield Park — because of the area’s historical significance and worried about 14 planned electric substations and hundreds of diesel generators.
The Virginia Court of Appeals halted construction in April, siding with Prince William County residents and the American Battlefield Trust, finding that area leaders had not given proper notice for a 2023 hearing where the Board of Supervisors approved development.
The ruling gave QTS Realty Trust and Compass Datacenters — which jointly proposed the project — until April 30 to appeal to the state Supreme Court.
