Opposition Kills Diode’s 500-Acre Virginia Data Center

A massive Virginia data center project was shelved after residents balked, demonstrating a willingness to push back against what had seemed like unstoppable momentum in the sector.

Diode Ventures, a subsidiary of Kansas City-based Black & Veatch, dropped plans for a 515-acre campus outside Richmond following fierce community pushback, Bisnow reported.

The project, dubbed Roxbury Technology Park, would have marked Diode’s entry into Virginia, the nation’s most competitive data center market.

Richmond BizSense first reported on the change of plans.

The developer, which has built for major tech tenants like Google and Meta in the Midwest, pulled the plug despite the local county’s planning commission supporting the proposal in May. A groundswell of resident opposition — fueled by fears of noise, light pollution and environmental fallout, and frustration with what locals called a lack of transparency — prompted the county’s board of supervisors to delay a final vote.

“Despite the county planning commission’s support … we made the decision to shift our focus elsewhere,” Diode said in a statement, citing both local sentiment and challenges in securing shovel-ready infrastructure. The company doesn’t plan to resubmit for the site.

The collapse of Roxbury Technology Park underscores a growing political problem for the sector. No U.S. metro has added more data center capacity than Richmond this year; inventory ballooned more than sevenfold in the first half, according to Avison Young. The region has a development pipeline beyond 9 gigawatts, significantly larger than its current capacity.

But the blistering pace has fueled public backlash. Residents and local officials increasingly worry about environmental strain, surging electricity demand and the loss of rural character.

The politics are shifting accordingly: Henrico County recently revoked by-right zoning for data centers and tightened design standards. Chesterfield County saw Tract scrap a 700-acre plan last month after negative feedback, though it intends to refile. And Amazon Web Services walked away from a 1,370-acre proposal in Louisa County earlier this summer amid similar resistance.

For developers, the retreat in Charles City County is another reminder that even with Virginia’s data center dominance, local sentiment can stall billion-dollar pipelines.

— Holden Walter-Warner