Appeals Court Delivers Stinging Blow to PW Digital Gateway; Opponents Call for End to Legal Battles

A Virginia appeals court has upheld a ruling voiding the rezoning for the 2,100-acre PW Digital Gateway, putting the world’s largest data center project on life support.

By: AXL Media

Published: Apr 9, 2026, 11:19 AM EDT

Source: Bisnow

The Legal Verdict: Procedural Failures Void Rezoning

The core of the legal dispute centered on a marathon 27-hour public hearing held in December 2023. While the outgoing Board of Supervisors approved the land-use changes for the Digital Gateway at that time, the Oak Valley Homeowners Association and the American Battlefield Trust successfully argued that the county failed to meet statutory notice requirements. Specifically, the county did not send out the required two public notices at least six days apart and failed to publish materials in a timely fashion. The appellate judges unanimously affirmed that these procedural shortcuts rendered the rezoning decision legally void.

Project Scope: QTS and Compass’s 1.7GW Vision

At full build-out, the PW Digital Gateway was intended to be a global powerhouse for data infrastructure. The project, led by Blackstone subsidiary QTS and Compass Datacenters, envisioned:

Land Area: 2,139 acres

Total Footprint: 34 buildings spanning 22 million square feet