Chirisa, an Ireland-based investor in digital infrastructure, communications and real estate, and American Real Estate Partners, a U.S-based fund manager, plan to build two data center buildings totaling 380,000 square feet in Chesterfield county, Virginia. Local media reports indicate that the facility will come up at the site of a now demolished factory in Meadowville Technology Park.
As per Richmond Bizsense, the land located at 1600 Digital Drive, was acquired over two years ago. The site previously hosted the unfinished Cartograf facility, a 2019 packaging factory that never opened. Chirisa and American Real Estate Partners bought the 100-acre property for US$ 16.5 million in 2024 after a court-ordered sale to satisfy liens. Private equity firm Blue Owl is backing the project.
David Kelly, head of U.S. real estate for Chirisa, said, “Richmond really has turned into a tier-one market. It’s definitely been a fantastic location for us. It’ll be a master campus for the one tenant that we have there. We manage everything all the way up to the door of the data halls and everything inside the data halls is CoreWeave.”
Each building will have roughly 190,000 square feet and 100 MW of power. One is expected to open in late 2027, the other in mid-2028, said David Kelly. DPR Construction is the general contractor, Dallas-based Gensler is the architect, and Bohler is the civil engineer. Chesterfield staff were reviewing plans as of December.
Virginia, particularly Northern Virginia, already boasts of the largest data center market in the world, and is home to nearly 35 percent of all hyperscale data centers worldwide as per Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP). Chesterfield is located just South of Richmond, and Chirisa, which already operates a Meadowville campus, is expanding locally because of the area’s proximity to the D.C. data hub and a strong workforce.
