Two years after a previous rezoning attempt by another group failed, local developer Hooligan is one vote away from winning approval for a major industrial development in Varina with plans to include multiple data centers. There is.
Henrico supervisors are expected to vote tonight on Hourigan's request to rezone 622 acres southeast of the Interstate 64-295 interchange from agricultural to the county's light industrial district. The changes will allow more than half of the largely forested site to be developed into manufacturing, office and production uses, including an advanced manufacturing center and data center.
It's unclear how many buildings will ultimately be built or how large the area will be, but plans call for 65 percent of the site to be developed, with the remainder remaining as open space or green space. Development will take place in his seven designated areas on either side of Williamsburg Road, which bisects the site.
Hooligan's request, made through an entity called HD CVA LLC, comes three years after another group applied to rezone 530 acres of the property for industrial use, including a distribution center.
That group also included Hillwood Development, a Texas-based company led by Ross Perot Jr. that developed the Amazon fulfillment center near Richmond Raceway in Henrico. The group, Atlantic Crossing LLC, ultimately withdrew its request in 2022.
Atlantic Crossing will then acquire additional land on a larger property and sell it to Hooligan LLC, along with other property owners including Washington, D.C.-based Vienna Finance Co. Last November, Atlantic Crossing paid $1.2 million for 77 acres of adjacent land. The interchange is located on a 622-acre site.
The inclusion of the parcel, which includes parts of two Civil War battlefields, has drawn scrutiny from project opponents, who have also expressed concerns about potential environmental and noise impacts from the data center. ing.
Hooligan addresses these concerns by implementing noise mitigation during generator testing, LEED Silver design standards for all buildings on the property, existing vegetation, new plantings, and building setbacks of 50 feet or more. We submitted more than 20 proposals, including visual buffers. .
Building height will be limited to 93 feet, below the 110-foot limit within the zoning district and nearby White Oak Technology Park. The new development will become part of White Oak and will be regulated by the Tech Park Design Review Board.
An archaeological and cultural resource survey is also proposed to search for artifacts from the Savage Station and Seven Pines battlefield sites, including a portion of the northwest corner of the site. The land will also be dedicated to the county as a historic landmark.
Since being submitted to Henrico last year, the lawsuit's proposals and other amendments have led county planning staff to support the rezoning, with the report saying the change “overcomes key concerns staff previously raised.” “This will be in line with the development of the plan.” Consult standards and best practices from other facilities in Virginia. ”
Community meetings were held in December and January, and after a public hearing last month in which about 20 people spoke mostly against the rezoning, the Planning Commission voted 4-1 to recommend approval, and Bob voted in favor.
Sippy objected, and Varina coach Tyrone Nelson abstained.
Nelson, the supervisory board chairman and committee representative, declined Monday to speculate on how the board would vote at Tuesday's regular meeting.
“I know all of my colleagues are working hard. The activist community is definitely working hard to make sure we individually have as much information as possible,” Nelson said Monday.
“We looked at some of the other regions and some of the things they've done, and we've been talking to applicants to see what we can move to make a better case for tomorrow's vote. ,” Nelson said. “We really don't know what's going to happen until we call people to vote.”
Hourigan School Principal Mark Hourigan said Monday he expects approval but similarly declined to predict the outcome.
“This was a very thorough process,” he said. “We will find out whether our case was successful after the actual Supervisory Board meeting.” “We certainly believe so, but we won't know until we get there.”
Hourigan said he connected with the site's owners through mutual contacts after a previous proposal was withdrawn.
“I don't know why they reversed the rezoning earlier. That was before we were involved,” Horrigan said. “We were able to reach good business terms with them and from there we were able to move forward with the approval process.”
Hourigan's LLC is under contract to purchase the property, which consists of more than a dozen lots. The land is valued by the county at nearly $2.8 million.
Local attorneys Andy Condlin and Ross Jackson Gibbons Condlin are representing Hooligan in the claims. Timmons Group is handling the engineering for the project.
Condlin said during a commission hearing last month that it was unclear whether Hourigan would build the building. He said building occupants can decide whether to use Horrigan or another builder.
Henrico currently has 16 data centers, generating more than $13 million in annual tax revenue, county officials said. While Atlantic Crossing's logistics center plan projected a total real estate investment of nearly $2 billion, the multiple data centers in Hooligan's plan represent a significantly larger investment depending on the end user and size of the facility. To do.
The county has encouraged such development in recent years by lowering data center tax rates. At the same time, state lawmakers expressed concern about the proliferation of data center developments across Virginia and directed the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee to investigate the issue. A report from JLARC is expected to be released later this year.
Henrico's 2026 Comprehensive Plan designates the Varina site for office, office/service, commercial accumulation, and environmental protection uses, and the county has identified a portion of the site as a major economic development site.
In addition to a distribution center that would employ more people and generate more traffic, the land is also envisioned for office and commercial use to support the area's residential community. Henrico Planning Director Joe Emerson said the site was once considered a potential state fair site.
“The current general market trend in this region is toward heavy industry rather than office,” Emerson told the committee, noting that demand for office development has been weak since the pandemic.
Tuesday's meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the Henrico Government Center boardroom on Perham Road.