Microsoft continues to expand its footprint across the U.S. The Redmond-based software giant has acquired roughly 332 acres of land property in Leesburg, Loudoun County for almost $73 million from Peterson Cos. The real estate property covers a major portion of Compass Creek, a commercial space currently being developed by Peterson. The development will also house a Walmart and the Ion International Training Center, which are being constructed in the area.
Regarding the purchase, a Microsoft representative told the Washington Business Journal:
As demand grows for online and cloud services, we are continuously exploring new opportunities to support our business operations. We continue to invest in Virginia, but have nothing further to share at this time.
Buddy Rizer, Loudoun"s economic development director, also stated:
I’m very excited that Microsoft has made this commitment to Loudoun County. Loudoun continues to evolve as a technology location and I’m very confident this will be a very successful campus for the future of one of the worlds great companies.
There"s no word yet on how Microsoft intends to use the land property. Nonetheless, the company is expected to build data centers and office spaces in the area, with Loudoun being one of the world"s biggest data center markets. In fact, Microsoft has been investing in data centers and new concepts over the past few months such as the data centers in Norway to power its cloud services in the country and an undersea data center off the coast of the European Marine Energy Center in Orkney, Scotland.
Source: Washington Business Journal