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Anyone who may have come into contact with the cat or its kittens should contact their health care provider or health department.

ASHBURN, Va. — The health department in Loudoun County is putting out a warning to anyone who may have come in contact with a rabid cat at a local shopping center.

The cat and its kittens were at an Ashburn restaurant and shopping center.

The Loudoun County Health Department said at least five people they know of came into contact with the cat. The cat tested positive for rabies.

Residents were exposed this week near the Chick-fil-A and Red Robin restaurants on Yukon Drive in Ashburn, as well as the Shoppes at Ryan Park on Greenway Corporate Drive.

The cat is described as a gray/brown tabby with white markings and was demonstrating abnormal aggression and experiencing tremors when it came into contact with the people, the health department said.

The cat was seen with three kittens, two light orange and one dark gray with white markings.

Anyone who may have visited the shopping center between July 31 and Thursday, and came into contact with the cat or kittens, should contact their health care provider or the Loudoun County Health Department at 571-233-7317 or health@loudoun.gov.

Loudoun County Animal Services is investigating the area for additional animals. Anyone who sees animals that are behaving irregularly or aggressively should call LCAS’ Humane Law Enforcement Division at 703-777-0406 or 703-777-1021 after hours. Additional information is posted on the LCAS website.

Credit: Loudoun County Health Department

Rabies is a virus that is spread through the saliva of infected animals, typically through a bite or saliva-contaminated scratch. Residents are encouraged to avoid contact with unattended animals to minimize the risk of bites or disease. Seeking evaluation and potential medical care for exposure to animals with rabies as soon as possible is very important because rabies is a fatal disease if treatment is not begun before the start of symptoms. More information on rabies is posted on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website at cdc.gov/rabies.

Vantage Data Centers has applied for permission to develop a new campus in Ashburn, in Virginia’s Loudoun County.

The district commander of the US Army Corps of Engineers has received a joint permit application for federal and state permits from Vantage for its VA3 data center campus.

According to the filing, Vantage aims to construct a ‘large-scale data center campus’ on 134 acres west of Belmont Ridge Road (Route 659) and south of Harry Byrd Highway (State Route 7), Loudoun County, Virginia.

Site plan documents suggest four buildings and an on-site substation. Timelines of development or campus capacity weren’t shared.

The filing notes the development will impact just over two acres of wetlands and 3,551 linear feet of stream channel. The company reportedly proposes to compensate for the loss of wetlands through the purchase of wetland credits from the Northern Virginia Stream Restoration Bank and the stream loss through the assignment and purchase of Compensation Credits from The Nature Conservancy of Virginia.

According to DgtlInfra, Vantage acquired the land at 19509 Belmont Ridge Road for $180 million last year from Barcroft Associates, an entity controlled by Charles (Chuck) B DeLashmutt.

Vantage’s existing ‘Ashburn VA1’ campus, located at 45200 Vantage Data Plaza in Loudoun County’s Sterling, spans 42 acres. At full build-out, it will feature five buildings spanning more than one million sq ft and offering more than 146MW. Two buildings are currently in operation, with a third in development. The company recently bought 10 acres across the road from the VA1 site, likely for further campus expansion.

Vantage bought a total of 17 acres located at 22318 Glenn Drive in Sterling for $46 million in October 2021. The site is reportedly for Vantage’s VA2 campus. According to documents filed by Loudoun County Economic Development, the site will have up to 96MW of capacity across 800,000 sq ft (74,325 sqm) of data center, likely split across two buildings.

Cologix has pre-leased a new 120-megawatt data center in the center of Data Center Alley in Ashburn, Virginia, the company said today. The three-story, 455,000 square foot building Scalelogix ASH1 facility is one of the largest single data centers in North America, said Cologix.

The tenant is described as a "major global technology company" and began operations at the site in May.

The deal is one of the largest single-building leases in memory, and illustrates the extraordinary demand for new data center capacity in Ashburn, the focal point for Internet connectivity in the massive cloud cluster in Northern Virginia.

Scalelogix ASH1 was built on one of the world's most desirable pieces of cloud real estate. The Cologix campus is the former site of the Christian Fellowship Church on Beaumeade Circle, and sits next to the world’s largest Internet intersection, adjacent to campuses for Equinix, Digital Realty and Amazon Web Services.

The new Ashburn campus is a key component in Cologix's strategic shift to larger hyperscale campuses. The company's Scalelogix strategy was enabled by a $3 billion recapitalization in December 2021, which brought in new investors and used an asset-backed securitization to reduce the company’s borrowing costs.

“We’re aggressively expanding our hyperscale edge portfolio across North America in response to growing demand from major global cloud providers and large digital enterprises,” said Cologix Chief Revenue Officer Chris Heinrich. “With their massive scale and top-tier performance, our Scalelogix data centers provide high-speed, ultra-low latency and highly secure access to fixed, 5G and public cloud networks that today’s businesses require for success.”

Cologix bought the land in 2018, and announced a groundbreaking in 2020, but didn't begin active development until late 2022. But once Cologix began construction, the building was delivered in just seven months from permitting to commissioning.

“Many positive factors contributed to the project’s successful and efficient timeline, including transparent partnerships and communications with all parties involved every step of the way,” said Cologix Chief Development Officer Nathan Hazelwood. “I am so proud and appreciative of the entire Cologix team and our invaluable partners and vendors, as we’ve built a superior facility that will provide exceptional capabilities for our customers doing business at the digital edge.”

ASH1 is the first Cologix project built using Modular Electrical Rooms (MERs), prefabricated modular assemblies filled with electrical infrastructure that can be rapidly deployed at a data center facility. The facility also features a high efficiency, closed-loop cooling system, and a hot-aisle containment design allowing up to 35 cabinets per row.

But the real story of the new site is connectivity, as it sites next door to the Equinix campus that serves as the world's largest network intersection. The data center includes highly-connected Ashburn Meet-Me-Rooms (MMRs) and is part of Cologix’s robust interconnection ecosystem of more than 700 network providers.

DCF asked Cologix if the 120 megawatts is available now or if it will be deployed in phases, but we have not had a response as yet.

Cologix' purchase of the land also worked out well for the Christian Fellowship Church, which used the proceeds of the sale to build a new $25 million worship center near the One Loudoun mixed-use community.

ASH1 is one of three new Scalelogix data centers to be launched by Cologix in the next year, including facilities planned in Columbus, Ohio and Montrèal, Canada.

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Residents of a subdivision in Ashburn, Virginia, are worried that proposed plans to create a recreation trail in the area could bring about a repeat of a 2016 tragedy that left a teenager seriously injured.

A group of residents, most of whom live on Walkley Hill Place in Belmont Glenn Village, said the accident involved a swimming hole in nearby Goose Creek.

In 2016, a teenager swinging from a rope swing into the creek landed in shallow water and rocks. The fall caused injuries so severe, responding paramedics had to use a special gurney to pull him up the steep hillside.

The rope swing and the tree are now gone. The entrance to Goose Creek Pointe Park, currently considered undeveloped, is marked closed.

“I’m really concerned of having a repeat of 2016,” resident Amy Johnson said.

Neighbors also said they want to make sure any new trails don’t intensify problems they’ve had with cars blocking driveways and the cul-de-sac being used as a makeshift beach.

Avinash Makey said he recently had to call 911 when his toddler suffered a seizure. He worries what would happen if an ambulance was slowed down by the parked cars of people accessing the swimming hole.

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“I can’t imagine a scenario where this becomes a virtual parking lot for the park, and the EMT has to wait,” Makey said.

Douglas Hoyles, who lives nearby, said he supports the plan to create trails.

He said if the street weren’t wide enough for emergency vehicles and cars, officials would’ve put a yellow curb where cars wouldn’t be allowed to park.

“They did that over on the other side where it wasn’t wide enough, but this side is wide enough,” he said.

In a statement to News4, Kraig Troxell, Communications Manager for Loudoun County Parks, said: “It would be premature to speculate on the future design of the park, which would involve a public input process. A future planned trail system in this area will be accessed at the trailhead at nearby Edgar Tillett Park."

Residents have sent a petition outlining their concerns to state and local officials.

CyrusOne is to lease a newly-built data center in Ashburn, Northern Virginia, from PowerHouse.

PowerHouse this week announced it has signed a deal with CyrusOne for a 30-year powered shell lease of its ABX-1 data center campus. CyrusOne has yet to make an official announcement on the news.

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American Real Estate Partners (AREP) launched PowerHouse in partnership with Harrison Street last year. ABX-1 represents the company's maiden project.

Sat on 10 acres at 21529 Beaumeade Circle, ABX-1 will comprise one two-story 265,000 sq ft (25,000 sqm) building. The first 15MW will launch in October 2023; at full build-out, the facility will offer 54MW across six data halls. The site is reportedly expandable up to 80MW.

ABX-1 will eventually feature a 300MW substation from Dominion, with power not used by ABX-1 available for the surrounding area.

"Now more than ever, hyperscalers and operators are looking for real estate solution providers to handle everything from land identification and acquisition to data center design and construction," said Doug Fleit, co-founder and CEO of AREP and PowerHouse.

Michael Hochanadel, managing director and head of digital assets for Harrison Street, added: "Northern Virginia is the most active data center market in the world and we are excited to be able to deliver data center solutions to end users and operators such as Cyrus One, to fit-out and support their customers. We look forward to working closely with PowerHouse to develop more data centers in the region."

Harrison Street and AREP acquired the site for $21.5 million in January 2021. The land, formerly home to a retail strip mall-type facility, was previously owned by Chirisa Investments, which bought the site in 2018 and had planned to build a 280,000 sq ft (26,000 sqm), 30MW data center.

PowerHouse is developing three sites across Northern Virginia. Six buildings are currently in planning or underway totaling 2.1 million sq ft (195,100 sqm) and up to 338MW of critical power.

On Sterling’s Pacific Boulevard, PowerHouse Pacific will comprise three three-story buildings comprising 24 data halls across 1.1 million sq ft (102,200 sqm). Construction is due to start in 2024 and complete in 2024/2025; the site will offer 265 MW.

The Pacific campus was previously part of the former AOL headquarters and most-recently used by Yahoo!. Yahoo Inc. and Oath sold the 43.3-acre property to Pacific Ashburn Campus LLC in December for $136 million.

Sat on 23 acres in Arcola’s Arcola Boulevard, PowerHouse Arcola will comprise two two-story buildings and 12 data halls across 614,300 sq ft (57,070 sqm). The buildings will offer 54MW and 66MW. Construction is due to begin on the first building in April 2024 and end in 2025, with the second building finished in 2026.

CyrusOne’s current Virginia portfolio spans more than 2.5 million sq ft (232,250 sqm) across at least five buildings, largely around the Sterling and Ashburn areas. In January the company acquired a 57.6-acre land parcel in Ashburn located near the intersection of the Dulles Greenway toll road and Belmont Ridge Road.