Of the more than 960 acres Isle of Wight County purchased in 2013 for a third phase of the Shirley T. Holland Intermodal Park, only around 150, or 15%, are buildable, according to the latest estimates from the county’s Economic Development Department.

A map of the undeveloped Phase III Economic Development Director Kristi Sutphin showed county supervisors on Nov. 7 lists five “upland” or non-wetland areas ranging in size from just under 11 acres to just under 74 acres.

The largest is a 73.6-acre parcel along Buckhorn Drive just south of the Windsor town limits. Sutphin said it is being marketed as an ideal site for data centers.

“Data centers are considered an industrial use,” Sutphin told The Smithfield Times. “They typically look more like an office building and don’t generate the amount of traffic associated with manufacturing and transportation/warehousing uses. Buckhorn Drive is not suitable for heavy truck traffic, which limits the types of uses on the site.”

Sutphin said the site was included in a data center study the Hampton Roads Alliance commissioned last year.

“The consultant evaluated properties all over the region based on site characteristics, infrastructure, scalability and speed to market,” she said. “This site was determined to be suitable for data center development. Data centers can operate on well and septic if water is not a large component of their cooling process. Since they are heavy power users they are looking to locate near transmission lines and substations where power is scalable to meet their needs. They also want flat land outside of the flood plain.”

Also included on the uplands map is the 135-acre parcel Isle of Wight’s Economic Development Authority is under contract to sell to “Project Air Station,” the EDA’s codename for Virginia Beach-based Air Station General LC’s proposal to build a 240,000-square-foot cold storage distribution facility off Walters Highway. The 135-acre site, to which the county previously tried to lure a Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice correctional center in 2019, has 34.7 buildable acres and an additional 11 acres of uplands, separated from the main area by wetlands, which Sutphin said Project Air Station has the option to purchase for additional trailer storage.

The map shows two additional buildable “opportunity sites” along Buckhorn. One measures roughly 19.8 acres while the other measures roughly 10.9 acres.

In 2019, an environmental study determined much of Phase III to be wetlands due to the presence of loblolly pines, a tree the Army Corps of Engineers reclassified as a wetland plant in 2012.

According to 2013 reporting by the Times, Isle of Wight had spent about $7 million as of that year to purchase the roughly 1,200 acres that span the three phases. Just over $3.7 million of that total was for Phase III parcels, according to records of Phase III sales from 2007 through 2011 on the county’s GIS map.

The proposed $35,000-per-acre sale price of the Project Air Station land, which would equate to between $1.3 million and $1.7 million based on the 38.25 under-contract acres and optional 11 additional acres, would recoup 35% to 45% of the county’s Phase III investment.

“Once this sale closes, if the remaining three ‘opportunity sites’ sell, which includes the 73-acre parcel, the county could more than recoup its initial investment in the property,” Sutphin said.

 Phases I and II are home to the Cost Plus World Market, Safco Products and the Keurig Dr Pepper roasting plant. Keurig has announced plans to close its Isle of Wight facility by early 2025.

Meanwhile, construction is underway at a 43-acre Phase II site slated for the “460 Commerce Center,” a roughly 352,000-square-foot manufacturing and distribution facility. Its developer, W.M. Jordan, bought the land from the EDA.

No tenants have been named yet. Leasing will be handled by Colliers International, a Toronto-based investment management company, according to an April 2 news release by the company.

In addition to the 460 Commerce Center, the county is marketing another undeveloped Phase II site along what’s envisioned as a future extension of William A. Gwaltney Way, the road that currently serves Safco and Keurig and will serve the 460 Commerce Center.

The undeveloped Phase II site is “about 40 acres uplands confirmed,” Sutphin said, “but we do need to run the road and utilities to serve that property.”