Data centers in Virginia Beach, Virginia: 2 projects mapped

Imagery: Esri, Maxar

Virginia Beach wants the data centers it already has and none of the big ones. The city is a landing point for transoceanic internet cables. Three subsea cables run into Globalinx's cable landing station at Corporate Landing Business Park: Google's to France, the Facebook-Microsoft-Telxius cable to Spain, and a Telxius cable to Puerto Rico and Brazil. Telxius also operates a facility in the park. Globalinx says landing stations are smaller, quieter and use less water and power than AI data centers. "It's literally just changing traffic and moving it," said its chief operating officer, Chris St Claire.

The city is backing that business. In May 2026 the Virginia Beach Development Authority approved an $800,000 grant, paid only after jobs and investment are delivered, for Globalinx's $34.5 million second phase. That phase is a 74,000-square-foot expansion with room for four more subsea cables, which the company says will create 16 jobs and be ready by the end of 2027. In August the authority agreed to sell Globalinx 9 more acres for $1.8 million for a third phase: an 85,000-square-foot, $65 million facility needing 25 megawatts, with 40 jobs promised.

Large data centers got the opposite reception. In May, Planning Commission Chair John Coston warned that the city's zoning does not define data centers, so they could be built by right in any industrial district. On June 2, council unanimously backed Mayor Bobby Dyer's call to ban large data centers and hyperscalers, while requiring conditional use permits for smaller cable-landing and colocation businesses. "We're saying not only no to data centers, we're saying hell no to the data centers," Dyer told reporters. On August 18 the council voted unanimously for a moratorium on new data center applications. It lasts 12 months or until an ordinance is adopted, and it does not touch existing operators such as Globalinx. "This is an opportunity for us to take a pause," said Councilmember Joash Schulman, "to craft policy that will help us avoid undesirable outcomes, especially by-right outcomes, that hit us by surprise." City staff told the planning commission there are not yet settled best practices for defining data centers or setting their setbacks and noise limits.

Every project above is drawn from public records, filings and local reporting. Each row links to what it is based on. Statuses change, so check the source date before you rely on one. Found something wrong? Write to [email protected] and it gets fixed.