It's no accident that Loudoun, Virginia is known as "The bullseye of America's Internet." Loudoun's vast greenfield opportunities, inexpensive utility costs, and abundance of fiber have made us a premier data center location. Heavy hitters in the industry, including Equinix, RagingWire and Latisys, have all made Loudoun home to their state-of-the-art facilities. Many of the same considerations that bring these companies here year after year can also apply to the site selection of the new FBI headquarters.

While many local jurisdictions have been able to offer one or two potential sites, Loudoun has eight sites that offer the room for growth and security that the FBI will need. According to Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Chairman Scott York, the sites "offer the lowest cost per square foot, and the highest flexibility, of any sites under consideration for the new FBI headquarters.”

Recently, ground was broken on Riverside Office Park. Located at 19490 Sandridge Way in Lansdowne, this project will bring 54,000 square feet of spec office space to Loudoun. While projects like this are becoming more common, it's only recently that the economic climate has allowed for the return of speculative construction projects.

At the groundbreaking, Delegate J. Randell Minchew said that having Loudoun's office vacancy rate below 15 percent "is a turning point" that makes Loudoun "prime for spec office projects like [Riverside]." In fact, just down the road from Riverside is One Loudoun, a new town center under construction. Billed as "Loudoun's new downtown," One Loudoun is a mixed-use community that will offer two 60,000 square foot office buildings with ground floor retail.