Virginia Tech announced Tuesday that it’s adding a $1 billion campus the university claims was a “key reason” online retailer Amazon chose its additional headquarters site in Arlington, Virginia, which was also announced Tuesday.
Virginia Tech is calling the site located less than two miles from Amazon’s proposed new headquarters “Innovation Campus.” The campus will focus on technology education and research for hundreds of graduate students there, according to a press release from the university.
A view of the Crystal City section, one of the possible locations for Amazon’s second headquarters is seen on November 7, 2018 in Arlington, Virginia. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images
Virginia and Virginia Tech are each chipping in $250 million to seed the 1 million-square-foot campus, according to the release.
The remaining funds will come from “university philanthropy, non-general revenue generated by university operations at the facility, state support, and investments by developers and the private sector,” university spokeswoman Tracy Vosburgh told The Daily Caller News Foundation Tuesday.
Amazon cited top-tier talents as one of the main reasons it chose to split its additional headquarters between Long Island City in Queens, New York, and Arlington.
Virginia Tech already offers graduate degrees in fields including aerospace engineering and computer science and applications. The university plans to grow its undergraduate enrollment to 30,000 students by adding 2,000 students of computer science and related disciplines by 2026. (RELATED: Amazon Set To Roll In Cash As New York And Virginia Ready To Give Massive Amount Of Tax Incentives)
“Today is a historic day for the commonwealth,” Democratic Virginia Sen. Mark Warner said in a statement. “The Innovation Campus will transform Virginia’s high-tech economy while also providing a pipeline of talent to industry all over Virginia, including Amazon. Once fully launched, it will benefit educational institutions and regions across the commonwealth.”
Amazon officially announced it will be spending more than $5 billion to split its new headquarters between two locations in Long Island City and Arlington in northern Virginia after a search process that lasted more than a year.
Northern Virginia residents are already calculating how Amazon’s arrival will affect their rent prices and more.
The news comes as Amazon preps for the holiday rush and even announced wage increases in October.
Amazon declined to comment to The Daily Caller News Foundation regarding Innovation Campus’s role in its choice of Arlington.
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