Blackstone NYSE:BX took another hit in Northern Virginia's data center fight after its QTS Realty Trust unit reportedly abandoned plans for an 800-acre-plus campus in Prince William County.
For some perspective, Blackstone is one of the world's largest alternative asset managers, investing across private equity, real estate, credit, infrastructure and data-center assets.
Bloomberg reported that QTS no longer sees the court fight as worth pursuing and plans to notify the court of its decision as soon as this week. The project had faced homeowner opposition, lawsuits and public hearings because the land was protected from development.
Blackstone Infrastructure Partners and Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust bought QTS in 2021 for $10 billion before taking it private. The retreat follows a similar May pullback by Brookfield-backed Compass Datacenters from another 800-acre-plus Prince William project, underscoring rising local resistance to large AI-driven data center buildouts.