Prince William County has agreed to sell Gilbane Properties 155 acres at the county-owned Innovation Park next to Manassas where the Providence, R.I.-based developer could build speculative projects, including a possible data center. With approval from the county’s board of supervisors last week (Aug. 1), the company will pay $7.8 million for a site on which it could build up to 2 million sf of commercial space.
Gilbane has agreed to build an 85,000- to 100,000-sf speculative building as part of the transaction. It has 90 days to submit construction plans after closing the deal.
Prince William County has long wanted to attract speculative development to spur its economy, and lately has seen some progress towards that goal. The shortage of available office and industrial space has kept companies from moving in.