Data Center Atlas
Balico gas-powered data center campus, Pittsylvania County
Cancelled
United States · 1 project · Last reported
Summary
Rejected plan by Herndon-based Balico for a data center campus with a 3,500 MW on-site natural gas power plant near Chatham in Pittsylvania County, Virginia. The first application, covering 47 parcels and about 2,233 acres with 84 data center buildings, was withdrawn in November 2024 after community meetings. A scaled-down version on about 750 acres with up to 12 buildings kept the 3,500 MW plant; the planning commission unanimously recommended denial in January 2025. On 15 April 2025 county supervisors refused Balico's request to withdraw it again and voted 6-1 against the rezoning, so a new filing had to wait a year.
Source record as of 2025-04-16 · Details and sources
Location
The interactive map needs JavaScript. Display anchor: 36.82560, -79.39750 (Point locator, WGS 84).
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Town or locality reference only; the facility position is not established.
Projects (1)
Balico gas-powered data center campus, Pittsylvania County
Cancelled last observed as of · Reported status
Location: Chatham, Pittsylvania County, Virginia, US. Coordinates are the Wikipedia centroid of the town of Chatham (s5). Sources place the land near Chatham (s3, s4) in the county's Banister district (s1) but name no roads; the parcels were not geocoded. WDBJ7; Cardinal News; Wikipedia
Capacity, investment and other figures
| Measure | Value | Scope | As of | Notes | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Power capacity | 3,500 MW | Planned · Campus · Onsite generation | 2025-04-14 | Planned natural gas power plant serving the campus; WDBJ reported the same plant size for the scaled-down 2025 application. | Cardinal News; WDBJ7; Cardinal News |
| Land area | about 2,233 acres | Planned · Campus | 2024-11-04 | 47 parcels to be rezoned to heavy industrial in the original application, withdrawn in November 2024 and superseded by the 750-acre plan. | Cardinal News |
| Land area | about 750 acres | Planned · Campus | 2025-04-16 | Scaled-down application rejected in April 2025. | WDBJ7; Cardinal News |
| Buildings | 84 count | Planned · Campus | 2024-11-04 | Original application, withdrawn in November 2024 and superseded by the 12-building plan. | Cardinal News; Cardinal News |
| Buildings | up to 12 count | Planned · Campus | 2025-04-16 | Each building planned at 396,000 square feet. | Radio IQ (WVTF); WDBJ7; Cardinal News |
| Jobs permanent | up to 700 count | Planned · Campus | 2024-11-04 | Company claim for the original application; residents questioned the job promises. | Cardinal News |
Companies and organizations
| Name | Role | Notes | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Balico LLC | Developer | Cardinal News; Radio IQ (WVTF); WDBJ7; Cardinal News | |
| Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors | Government | Denied the withdrawal request 5-2 and the rezoning 6-1. | Radio IQ (WVTF); Cardinal News |
Timeline
| Date | Event | Actual or planned | Notes | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-10 | Announced | Actual | Balico held community meetings on its rezoning application in late October 2024. | Cardinal News |
| 2024-11 | Other | Actual | First application withdrawn before a planning commission hearing, with county staff recommending denial; Balico said it was revising, not abandoning, the project. | Cardinal News |
| 2025-01 | Other | Actual | Planning commission voted unanimously to recommend denying the revised rezoning. | Radio IQ (WVTF) |
| 2025-04-15 | Cancelled | Actual | Board of Supervisors denied Balico's request to withdraw and rejected the rezoning 6-1. | Cardinal News |
Power supply
| Type | Description | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Natural gas onsite | A 3,500 MW natural gas power plant on the campus, described as the largest in Virginia; a public health study commissioned by the Southern Environmental Law Center estimated at least 326.53 tons of fine particulate emissions a year. | Cardinal News; Radio IQ (WVTF); WDBJ7 |
Recorded as cancelled because the county rejected the rezoning after refusing Balico's request to withdraw it; the sources reviewed report no appeal or new application. After the vote Balico's attorney said it was pursuing a joint venture with Dallas developer Hillwood and weighing other uses for the land, including another data center or housing. This project is separate from the Stack Infrastructure campus at the Berry Hill megasite in the same county.
Sources for these details
- Data center proposal in Pittsylvania withdrawn, for now — Cardinal News; 2024-11-04 · Archived source
- Balico withdraws application to build data centers in Pittsylvania County — Radio IQ (WVTF); 2025-04-14 · Archived source
- Company withdraws data center proposal, residents express skepticism — WDBJ7; 2025-04-14
- Pittsylvania rejects data center project that has dominated county conversation for 6 months — Cardinal News; 2025-04-16 · Archived source
- Chatham, Virginia — Wikipedia; publication date not stated · Archived source
- Companies
- Developer: Balico LLC (unknown scope) evidence
- Developer: Balico LLC (unknown scope) evidence
- Developer: Balico LLC (unknown scope) evidence
- Developer: Balico LLC (unknown scope) evidence
- Government: Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors (unknown scope) evidence
- Government: Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors (unknown scope) evidence
Source and location review
- Status source
- Pittsylvania rejects data center project that has dominated county conversation for 6 months evidence row
Cardinal News · published 2025-04-16 · News - Locator
- Locality reference only · Compiled location reference · locality evidence
- Source checks
Not reviewed against imagery not_
reviewed
No imagery review is recorded for this project. Its status rests only on the dated authoritative source. · no independent imagery verificationStatus age at review: 559 days before the data update on 2026-10-27
Location details
- Coordinates
- 36.82560, -79.39750
- Geometry licence
- source-terms-not-recorded
- Use scope
- Locality reference only
- Scope class
- locality
- Authority
- Compiled location reference
- Source entity
- Project
- Method
- imported_reference_point
- Derivation
- imported_reference_point
- Precision scope
- Coordinates are the Wikipedia centroid of the town of Chatham (s5). Sources place the land near Chatham (s3, s4) in the county's Banister district (s1) but name no roads; the parcels were not geocoded.
- Horizontal uncertainty
Not reported
The source record provides no measured horizontal uncertainty; original coordinate precision and note are preserved.
- Geometry evidence
- 2b620414
A locator places the site on the map. It is not a building footprint, a construction extent or a surveyed boundary unless the use scope is an official boundary, and even then it is a parcel or permit boundary.
Evidence
Sources are linked, not redistributed; each keeps its own terms. An archived copy is a lookup for the Wayback Machine capture nearest the retrieval date and may be unavailable or differ from what was reviewed. Each hash states what it covers; imported factual records are not publisher-page captures.
| Title | Publisher | Roles | Published | Retrieved | Licence | Attribution | Content hash (SHA-256) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Balico withdraws application to build data centers in Pittsylvania County Archived copy | Radio IQ (WVTF) News | Imported: Record, Metric: Buildings, Milestone: Other, Power Source: Natural Gas Onsite, Role: Developer, Role: Government | source-terms-not-recorded | Radio IQ (WVTF) | 13c272253cf001e9f5eebd912171a863edf76fcda45fc5dd183c90d7e85b87faFactual source record; not the publisher page | ||
| Chatham, Virginia Archived copy | Wikipedia Other | Imported: Geometry, Imported: Record | not stated | source-terms-not-recorded | Wikipedia | b1e1e3a3c0bf73aeec3cab43106d718206f974e9372dd472ae8b85463c1c3d93Factual source record; not the publisher page | |
| Company withdraws data center proposal, residents express skepticism Archived copy | WDBJ7 News | Imported: Geometry, Imported: Record, Metric: Buildings, Metric: Land Area, Metric: Power Capacity, Power Source: Natural Gas Onsite, Role: Developer | source-terms-not-recorded | WDBJ7 | 51b14f724e6c968ce90ade978582e6e34fe091a57be96f5c2f293f2c583d45cdFactual source record; not the publisher page | ||
| Data center proposal in Pittsylvania withdrawn, for now Archived copy | Cardinal News News | Imported: Record, Metric: Buildings, Metric: Jobs Permanent, Metric: Land Area, Metric: Power Capacity, Milestone: Announced, Milestone: Other, Power Source: Natural Gas Onsite, Role: Developer | source-terms-not-recorded | Cardinal News | b19e4c491e25365012b16f7927b7ce5b0babb4d6e5fe7efe1523530411e51849Factual source record; not the publisher page | ||
| Pittsylvania rejects data center project that has dominated county conversation for 6 months Archived copy | Cardinal News News | Imported: Geometry, Imported: Record, Imported: Status, Metric: Buildings, Metric: Land Area, Metric: Power Capacity, Milestone: Cancelled, Role: Developer, Role: Government | source-terms-not-recorded | Cardinal News | f94270d524a0e21d4ba41f3b6c9e58cccc5544024566e3208e8daec3a9831561Factual source record; not the publisher page |
Cite this site
Kyars, K. (2026). Balico gas-powered data center campus, Pittsylvania County [site vcc-site-7b36022a26fba8770036]. In Data Center Atlas (2026-10-27) [Data set]. https://kiankyars.github.io/datacenter-atlas/sites/vcc-site-7b36022a26fba8770036/
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