Development

Former Gold’s Gym in Ashburn could become data center

The massive 54,000 s.f. building left vacant when Gold’s Gym moved out of Ashburn could have a future as a data center. That’s according to a proposal the property’s real estate folks are promoting.

Marketing materials for the former Gold’s at 21625 Red Rum Drive bill it as a “new data center opportunity” and say it’s “powered for success.” The proposal suggests a two-story building on the site that could be ready to go as soon as Summer 2024 if things start moving now.

Currently, it’s a single-story building that sits at the corner Waxpool Road and Ashburn Village Boulevard. Gold’s was the first tenant in there circa 2011 and it outfitted the space with a swimming pool and a basketball court, along with exercise equipment, workout areas, locker rooms, and so forth.

The gym closed suddenly in the fall of 2021 — no explanation given and no movement at the building since then. Now comes word of a potential data center on the site — and we may have a pretty clear inkling of why Gold’s closed.

It’s quite possible the property owners chose not to renew Gold’s lease. In the intervening years, the data center industry had become red hot throughout that entire area and the site was certainly now worth far more as a potential data center than it was as a space simply leased to a gym.

While we don’t know for certain the private negotiations between the parties involved, The Burn has spoken with folks in local real estate who say our theory is probably spot on.

(Image at top: Avison Young)