In the modern age, digital infrastructure has never been more critical to the operations of many organizations. With more services going partially or fully digital, there will need to be infrastructure to support it all, and data centers do just that.
Enter the Culpeper Tech Zone (CTZ), a 690-acre campus located in Culpeper, Virginia, designated to host data centers, public works entities and educational institutions supporting the county’s science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) initiatives.
“We have been interested in data center growth in Culpeper County and we viewed the tech zone as an opportunity for planned growth,” says Bryan Rothamel, economic development director at the Culpeper Department of Economic Development. “It was a place where we wanted to see the data centers go and it also enabled us to have an easier solution when it came to infrastructure. For example, bringing power to one spot is always easier than having it spread throughout.”
The CTZ is not powered by its own grid. Instead, transmission is handled by Dominion Energy, says Rothamel. Local distribution is handled by both Dominion Energy and Rappahannock Electric Co-op; their territories split the CTZ.
While the CTZ is home to data centers, it offers much more. Locally, it offers tax reimbursements for investments over $10 million and for creating 10 new jobs per year, says Rothamel. Two other offerings of the CTZ are fiber connectivity along the US29 and US15 corridor and allowing light industrial facilities increase their height from the standard 45 feet up to 75 feet high.
“It also helped to encourage development to happen in the areas that we wanted it to,” says Rothamel. “We realized that Culpeper was an area that companies were interested in coming to, so we wanted to make a soft-landing spot specifically in one area and we were able to accomplish that with the CTZ.”
Additionally, for data center enterprises seeking expansion, they can make use of the CTZ’s existing pool of skilled workers and business community. Rothamel says that there is a good number of data center professionals in the area due to the proximity to northern Virginia and the people that already live in Culpeper County.
Another aspect of the CTZ is the Culpeper Technical Education (CTE) Center, a facility on the tech zone campus. This facility will have students learning different trades such as plumbing, electrical, HVAC and carpentry.
“This is a great opportunity to marry the two where we have a lot of professional workers as well as a lot of trades people coming out of school,” says Rothamel. “We think this is a good location for us. We also have Germanna Community College right next to the CTE Center. Vendors in the CTZ can provide time to the students so they can see the jobs they want to do and then hopefully work for those vendors or work in those areas.”
Rothamel says this makes the CTZ more than just an area on the map. Instead, it gives the chance for businesses and other organizations to collaborate on how they impact the area around them.
“We think we are a piece of the puzzle moving forward for digital infrastructure,” says Rothamel. “We have provided an area for that, and the data center community seems to have responded well.”
Jeff Wardon, Jr. is the assistant editor for the facilities market.
