Although Amazon paused construction on part of its second headquarters in Northern Virginia, Virginia Tech remains on schedule to open its nearby Innovation Campus in Alexandria next year, according to a university statement.
After layoffs at Amazon, the Seattle-based e-commerce company announced last week that it has delayed the second phase of construction on its HQ2.
Despite that delay, the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus is on schedule to welcome students into its first academic building in fall 2024, according to a statement provided Monday by a university spokesperson.
“Amazon’s HQ2 was a catalyst for the commonwealth’s $1 billion Tech Talent Investment Program — and for announcing plans for our campus in 2018,” the university statement said. “But our mission has always been more ambitious than one company.”
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Virginia Tech’s Northern Virginia campus will open with an 11-story, 300,000-square-foot structure. Plans call for two additional buildings to host additional post-graduate master’s and doctoral candidates, according to a university webpage.
“We are excited to continue our work to define a new chapter of graduate education in the greater Washington, D.C., metro area and to help the state meet its goal of doubling the technology workforce,” the university statement said.
The first phase of Amazon’s HQ2 is scheduled to open in June, with space to accommodate more than 14,000 employees, according to the company.
Luke Weir
Luke Weir covers higher education and state government. He can be reached at (540) 566-8917 or luke.weir@roanoke.com
