George Washington University has sold its Ashburn-based Virginia Science and Technology Campus to Amazon Data Services for $427 million, The GW Hatchet reported.
University President Ellen M. Granberg announced the sale of the campus on Friday but did not disclose the buyer or sale price. The announcement said that the sale was made with “very favorable terms for the university.”
The GW Hatchet, the university’s student newspaper, first reported on the details of the sale Monday evening. Based on real estate records, Amazon purchased the 122-acre property for more than $427 million — about $3.5 million per acre. School spokesperson Julia Garbitt confirmed those details to the Hatchet.
GW will have the option to keep programs at the campus for up to five years. Granberg said that the university’s priority will be to support “the people most impacted by this transition.”
The Ashburn campus, established in 1991, held GW’s nursing school and hosted research for engineering, physics, and chemistry. Granberg’s letter said “the university had to take seriously the opportunity to realize the extraordinary benefits a sale at this time would yield.”
GW has been grappling with a budget deficit, the university detailed last year, with expenses growing faster than revenues. The university has had to reduce administrative and academic budgets, implement a hiring freeze, limit discretionary funding, and implement a voluntary salary reduction for the university’s leadership team.
According to Granberg’s announcement, a “significant portion” of the sale proceeds will go to a new endowment for research and teaching missions and increase fundings for student aid. The proceeds may also give eligible GW staff members a one-time bonus payment, “to recognize and thank our faculty and staff for the extraordinary work they continue to do in the face of the many challenges facing GW.”
Feature image, stock.adobe.com
