Data Center Near Front Royal, VA Withdrawn: What Buyers Should Know

Was a Data Center Built Near Front Royal, VA?

No. In August 2026, Rushmark Properties withdrew its application for a roughly 405,000-square-foot data center off Rockland Road near Front Royal, Virginia, after Warren County's Planning Commission recommended denial and hundreds of residents turned out in opposition. No data center zoning change has been adopted in Warren County. If you're buying or selling near Front Royal, Strasburg, or anywhere else in Warren County, the episode is a reminder to check for pending land-use applications near any property before you write an offer or sign a listing agreement.

By ERA OakCrest Realty | October 27, 2026

What Happened on Rockland Road

Rushmark Properties, operating as Rushmark Rockland Road LLC, asked Warren County to change its zoning code so data centers would be allowed as a conditional use in Industrial-zoned districts. The site sits off Rockland Road, a short distance east of Route 522 and about a mile north of I-66 — close enough to draw attention from homeowners whose backyards border the parcel.

The proposal moved through the usual steps. Warren County's Planning Commission held an hours-long public hearing that ran past midnight, with more than 100 residents speaking and several hundred more in attendance, nearly all opposed. The commission voted to recommend denial. The Board of Supervisors then voted to advertise its own public hearing and scheduled a vote for mid-August. That hearing never happened. On August 11, Rushmark asked the county's planning department to withdraw both the zoning text amendment and the conditional use permit for the site. The county canceled the hearing, and as of this writing, no data center application is active in Warren County.

Residents who spoke against the proposal raised concerns that will sound familiar to anyone following data center debates across the Shenandoah Valley: pressure on electric rates, water use, noise, and the loss of the open, rural views that drew many of them to Warren County in the first place. Some had moved from Loudoun County specifically to get away from large-scale data center development — only to see a similar proposal land a short walk from their property line.

How to Check Before You Buy Near a Pending Rezoning

Virginia doesn't require a seller to tell you about a pending zoning case, a rezoning application, or an industrial proposal near a home. The Residential Property Disclosure Statement is a buyer-beware form — it tells you what the seller is choosing not to represent, not what might be coming to the neighborhood. That means the responsibility to check almost always falls on you, the buyer.

Before you write an offer on a property anywhere near an industrial-zoned parcel, an interstate interchange, or a major road corridor in Warren, Frederick, or Clarke County, it's worth running through a short checklist:

• Search the county planning department's active case list. Warren County, Frederick County, and Clarke County each publish current rezoning, conditional-use-permit, and zoning-text-amendment applications online, often searchable by parcel number or road name.
• Check recent Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission agendas. A proposal that's been withdrawn or denied can still resurface in a different form, so it helps to see the full history, not just the current snapshot.
• Look at the zoning of neighboring parcels, not just the one you're buying. A property zoned Agricultural or Residential can still sit next to land zoned Industrial, which is exactly what put the Rockland Road homeowners in this position.
• Search local news coverage by road name. Winchester Star, the Northern Virginia Daily, and Royal Examiner all covered the Rockland Road proposal in detail — searching by the road or parcel name often surfaces coverage faster than searching by project name alone.
• Ask your agent to pull the case file before you write the offer, not after. This is exactly the kind of due diligence I walk buyers through before we tour a property a second time, not after they've already fallen for it.

None of this guarantees a property will never face a future proposal — zoning can always change again. But knowing how to check, and checking before you're emotionally invested in a specific house, puts you in a much stronger position than finding out from a neighbor after closing.

What This Means If You're Selling Near an Industrial-Zoned Parcel

If you're selling a home near Rockland Road, near Route 522, or near any other industrial-zoned corridor in Warren County, you're not required to volunteer information about a withdrawn or hypothetical future proposal. But buyers are increasingly asking this question themselves, and an agent who can speak to it directly — rather than looking surprised by it — tends to keep a transaction moving instead of stalling it. A pre-listing conversation about what's zoned nearby, what's been proposed and withdrawn, and what the realistic risk of a future application looks like is one of the things a local market analysis should cover before your home ever goes live.

Why This Is a Different Story Than Frederick County's Data Center Fight

If you've been following Frederick County's data center zoning ban, it's worth being clear that Warren County's situation played out differently. Frederick County's Board of Supervisors voted to strip data centers from its zoning ordinance countywide, while carving out a grandfathering window for two already-pending applications near Millwood Pike and the Fairfax Pike corridor near the Gibson Property. That's a countywide policy decision affecting multiple sites. Warren County never adopted a comparable ordinance change in either direction. The Rockland Road proposal was simply withdrawn by the applicant before a final vote happened, which means the underlying zoning rules in Warren County are unchanged — and a similar proposal could technically be filed again, on this site or another one, at any time. If you're comparing the two counties, don't assume what applies in Frederick County tells you anything about the rules in Warren County. They're two different jurisdictions with two different outcomes so far.

Your specific situation — the parcel you're buying, the zoning next door, the realistic odds of a future application — depends on details a general blog post can't cover. That's where it helps to talk it through with someone who knows this market and can pull the actual case files with you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a data center near Front Royal, Virginia?

No active data center is under construction near Front Royal as of late 2026. A proposal for a roughly 405,000-square-foot data center off Rockland Road was withdrawn by its applicant, Rushmark Properties, in August 2026 after Warren County's Planning Commission recommended denial.

Does Virginia require sellers to disclose nearby data center proposals?

No. Virginia's Residential Property Disclosure Statement operates on a buyer-beware basis and does not require sellers to disclose pending zoning applications, rezonings, or land-use proposals near a property, including data centers. Any disclosure of that kind is voluntary.

How can I check if a property is near a pending data center or industrial rezoning?

Check the planning department website for the county the property sits in (Warren, Frederick, or Clarke), search current and recent rezoning and conditional-use-permit applications by parcel or road name, and ask your agent to pull the case file before you write an offer. Local news coverage and county meeting agendas are also reliable sources.

Is the Front Royal data center situation the same as Frederick County's?

No. Frederick County voted to remove data centers from its zoning ordinance countywide while grandfathering two pending applications. Warren County never adopted a data center zoning change at all — the one application it received, for the Rockland Road site, was withdrawn before a final vote took place.

Could a new data center proposal come back to Warren County?

It's possible. Withdrawing an application doesn't change the underlying zoning ordinance, and Warren County has not adopted new rules specifically addressing data centers one way or the other. Buyers and sellers near industrial-zoned parcels should expect this to remain a live topic.

The Bottom Line

The Rockland Road proposal is gone for now, but the questions it raised aren't. Checking for pending land-use applications near a property — before you fall in love with it, not after — is one of the quieter but more important parts of buying in a growing market like Warren, Frederick, or Clarke County. And if you're selling near a parcel that's drawn this kind of attention before, knowing how to talk about it honestly with a buyer is worth more than hoping it doesn't come up. Whether you're trying to buy your next home in Front Royal or figure out how a nearby zoning case might affect your own sale, reach out to ERA OakCrest Realty and we'll walk through the specifics with you.

About ERA OakCrest Realty
ERA OakCrest Realty is a local team helping buyers and sellers navigate the Winchester and Northern Shenandoah Valley market, covering Frederick, Clarke, and Warren counties. Whether you're searching for your first home, upgrading to new construction, exploring luxury or investment properties, or getting ready to sell, the team walks you through pricing, paperwork, and negotiations with a straight talk, no surprises approach. Ready to talk through your specific situation? Reach out to ERA OakCrest Realty today.