AWS Pathfinder Plaza (Sterling) data center, Sterling, Virginia

Amazon Web Services' data center campus at 45900 Pathfinder Plaza in Sterling, Loudoun County, Virginia, has been running since 2017; Amazon Data Services bought the 33-acre site for $135.75 million on June 24, 2024. The purchase covered three one-story buildings totaling about 442,000 square feet, known as TransDulles Centre 2.

The seller was a CBRE Investment Management fund that had bought the buildings in 2018 for about $111 million, when the site was already leased to what CBRE called a "global cloud computing platform." An AWS spokesperson said only that the company is "constantly evaluating new locations based on customer demand." Amazon owns 26 parcels totaling 514 acres in Loudoun County, not counting land it leases through affiliates.

More than 200 data centers operate in Loudoun County, and supervisors say data center taxes fund 45% of the county's budget. On September 16, 2026 the Board of Supervisors voted 7-1-1 to direct county staff to draft a resolution pausing new data center applications for up to 12 months; the pause is not yet in force, and a final vote is due at the board's October 20 meeting. "This pause is a major step forward. Now we have the breathing room required to complete the critical work of revising our regulations to protect our communities," said Algonkian District Supervisor Juli Briskman, who brought the proposal. The pause would not reach buildings already operating, like Pathfinder Plaza, and no expansion or new filing for this site has been reported.