In addition to Amazon's newest headquarters, the newly branded neighborhood of National Landing in Northern Virginia will also be home to a new Virginia Tech campus.
The university, which is located in Blacksburg, Virginia, announced Tuesday that it will open the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus in Alexandria. The new campus will be located near Potomac Yard, roughly a mile from where Amazon's new headquarters will be located.
National Landing is a newly branded neighborhood that includes Crystal City and Pentagon City in Arlington and Potomac Yard in Alexandria, Gov. Ralph Northam said in a statement.
Virginia Tech says its new innovation campus will help bolster the tech talent pool in the D.C. metro area.
"Our new Innovation Campus will be the global center of technology excellence and talent production – where highly skilled students, world-class faculty, smart ideas, and forward-thinking companies will meet to propel the commonwealth and the region forward," said Virginia Tech President Tim Sands.
Officials from the school said the innovation campus helped attract Amazon to the D.C. area. The retail giant announced Tuesday that it would split its new headquarters between Northern Virginia and New York City.
Graduate degree programs at the innovation campus will focus on computer science and software engineering. The university says the first 100 master's degree students will be enrolled next year, but they'll be located in a temporary space until the new campus is constructed.
Once completed, the 1 million square foot campus will have 300,000 square feet of academic space, 350,000 square feet of housing space and 100,000 square feet of retail and support spaces. A date for the campus' completion was not given.
