Cranes Corner Data Center, Fredericksburg, Virginia

The Cranes Corner Data Center, proposed by GAM 403 Mountain LLC on about 46 acres east of U.S. 1 and about 1,400 feet north of Centreport Parkway near Fredericksburg, in Stafford County, Virginia, is one of five data center projects the county approved before tightening its rules that may still be built under the old ones. Its applicant, Jacob Manevich, also filed through GAM Stafford LLC for the larger Enon Road Technology Park nearby, planned for up to 2 million square feet of data center buildings.

The rezoning, from agricultural and light industrial to heavy industrial, allows up to 900,000 square feet of data center buildings using air-cooled, closed-loop or other low-impact cooling that does not draw on public water. Stafford County's own financial forecast counts three buildings totaling 792,000 square feet at Cranes Corner, with two delivered in fiscal year 2030 and one in 2031.

Unusually for a data center, Cranes Corner drew praise from a neighbor. AnnMarie Halterman, trustee for nearby land her family bought to build a house, told the Planning Commission in late August 2025 that she thought the data center would be quieter and better-looking than another industrial use, and "safer for my neighborhood... because of the extra security that's happening." The commission voted unanimously to recommend approval, and Garrisonville District Commissioner Laura Sellers said the project's impacts to local residents "are minimal."

Elsewhere in Stafford the fight has been sharper. In October 2025 the Board of Supervisors required new data center buildings to sit 750 feet from homes, schools and the Rappahannock and Potomac rivers, up from 100 feet, then on December 2 voted unanimously to let Cranes Corner and four other approved projects continue under the earlier rules, narrowed so grandfathering covers only changes "directly attributable" to the approved project. The new rules also set a 55-decibel noise cap and 200-foot vegetative buffers that grandfathered projects do not have to meet.

The next step is site plan review by Stafford County staff under the pre-October rules. The Board of Supervisors, chaired by Deuntay Diggs, would be involved again only if the developer sought changes beyond what is directly attributable to the approved project. No end user has been named.