Upper Magnolia Green: Chesterfield's Bet on a 2,400-Acre Megasite

In December 2020, Chesterfield's Economic Development Authority did something counties rarely do. It bought roughly 2,000 acres of land zoned for houses, north of Magnolia Green near Moseley, for $13 million, with no tenant and no announced plan. The stated purpose was to head off several thousand more homes on the county's western edge and hold the land for jobs instead.

Eighteen months later the Board of Supervisors rezoned about 2,400 acres there as a technology village and a school site. The state followed with the largest award in a $90 million round of site-readiness grants. The county was one of three finalists for a $20 billion semiconductor plant. Two schools have since opened on the land. And in 2025 a large piece of it became Google's Project Skye.

This post explains what Upper Magnolia Green is, how the decisions were made, and where it stands in September 2026. It is a companion to our post on Project Loch at Watkins Centre, the Google campus closer to Midlothian.

The purchase was defensive as much as it was ambitious. County Administrator Dr. Joe Casey said at the time that Upper Magnolia "represents one of the best opportunities for us to regain control over current large-scale traditional residential development." The land's residential zoning would have allowed thousands of homes at the far end of a road network already strained by growth along Hull Street Road.

The alternative the county laid out in January 2022 was a "technology village": a General Industrial zoning limited to a short list of primary uses rather than the 200-plus that I-2 normally allows, aimed at the kind of high-value manufacturing that Meadowville Technology Park had already attracted on the county's east side. The county cited Meadowville's contribution of roughly $3.3 million a year in local taxes as the model.

The two cases went to the Planning Commission on April 19, 2022, and to the Board of Supervisors on May 26, 2022.

The West approval allowed seven primary uses: computer equipment manufacturing, data centers, electronic component manufacturing, laboratories, offices, pharmaceutical manufacturing, and research and development. It set aside 378 acres of buffers, more than a fifth of the tract, with a minimum 200-foot perimeter and 750 feet between any building and an existing home, and capped building height at 150 feet.

The dissents were about timing rather than the idea. Kevin Carroll, whose district includes the site: "I think this case is not quite ready. I think there's some guardrails we can put on it to hold future boards accountable." Jim Ingle: "I want to be for this case. But there are concerns out there."

The same night, the Board of Supervisors appropriated $8 million for engineering on Phase II of the Powhite Parkway extension, from Woolridge Road to Genito Road, and accepted $130.8 million in state school bond proceeds for two middle schools, one of them to relieve Tomahawk Creek Middle. Leslie Haley put the road plainly: "We would not be talking fairly if we told you Chesterfield can build the Powhite Parkway Extension on our own."

In January 2023, Governor Youngkin announced $25 million for Upper Magnolia Green from the Virginia Business Ready Sites Program, roughly half of a $51 million county plan to design the Powhite extension through the property, run roads and utilities, obtain permits and grade a pad site. The site was then rated Tier 3 on the state's five-level readiness scale, with Tier 4 the goal.

The county's Economic Development Director, Garrett Hart, said the vision was "to chase a high-value semiconductor (fabrication) facility." Three months later he told Virginia Business the site had been "one of the top three selections for Intel," whose $20 billion, 5,000-job plant ultimately went to Ohio after two visits to Chesterfield. A second state grant of $13 million followed in 2024.

In February 2025 the Economic Development Authority filed new rezonings for two western sites on behalf of a data center operator it could not yet name: about 970 acres at Upper Magnolia Green and 345 acres at Watkins Centre, the case that became Project Loch. Community meetings were held February 19 at Cosby High School and February 24 at Midlothian High School.

The 2025 conditions tightened the 2022 ones for data center use: a 110-foot height limit; a 200-foot buffer around Tract A, twice the ordinance minimum; a 750-foot setback from existing homes on Moseley Road; noise limited to 75 decibels from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. and 65 decibels overnight at residential lines; full cut-off lighting; restrictions on water for cooling, with the county listing a maximum of 1.755 million gallons a day; and a two-lane road connecting Mount Hermon Road to Westerleigh Parkway.

Supervisor Dr. Mark Miller, at the May 2025 hearing: "We're never, ever going to put at risk our water as a result of a data center."

Project Skye. The county's tracker lists the site as "zoning approved." In August 2026 county staff described four buildings planned, with construction of the first anticipated in 2027 and operation in 2029. Wetlands permitting with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is under way; the application describes impacts to more than 20 acres of wetlands and about 8,000 feet of streams, offset by mitigation credits. No investment figure specific to Skye has been released; the $9 billion Google announced in August 2025 was a statewide figure.

The schools. The 2022 East case promised school sites, and they were delivered. Deep Creek Middle School, at 17151 Westerleigh Parkway, opened for the 2025–26 year with capacity for 1,800 students, and Deep Creek Elementary opened next door on August 24, 2026 with room for 1,000. Both sit on the former Upper Magnolia Green land.

The road. On September 8, 2026 the county announced it is moving toward construction on both ends of the Powhite Parkway extension: Phase I from the current terminus to Woolridge Road, about 2.25 miles at $150 million, with a contract to be advertised this month and construction starting around the turn of the year; and a $45 million Western Area Arterial Collector from Route 360 to the Upper Magnolia Green technology village, starting later in 2026. Nearly $300 million of the $565 million for the full 9.2-mile extension is secured.

The county's position on more data centers. The zoning rewrite effective January 1, 2026 removed data centers as a by-right use and requires a conditional use permit for any new one. In August 2026, Deputy County Administrator Jesse Smith said of new applications: "The board has indicated they don't have an appetite for these." That does not affect Skye, Loch or Peanut, which are approved.

Upper Magnolia Green is well south of the village, but it matters here for three reasons. It is the model for how Chesterfield now competes for large employers: buy the land, entitle it, make it site-ready with state help, and wait for the right tenant. It is the western anchor for the Powhite Parkway extension, the road that will eventually change how western Midlothian gets to and from Hull Street. And the tax arithmetic is countywide: the county projects Google's three campuses at upwards of $40 million a year in local revenue once operating, which it equates to more than six cents on the real estate tax rate, revenue that the Board of Supervisors has already discussed using to lower the personal property tax on vehicles.

The Midlothian Business Alliance's community affairs contributors include volunteers who serve in county appointed positions, including on the Chesterfield County Planning Commission, which heard both the 2022 and 2025 cases. This post reports the public record and takes no position on the project.

Last updated September 16, 2026.