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The development of Amazon's second headquarters in Arlington County appears to be inspiring another university to expand its presence in the area.
George Mason University plans to put out a request for proposals by early 2020 for a development partner to construct a 400K SF building on its Virginia Square campus, the Washington Business Journal reports.
The university, which has its main campus in Fairfax, aims to add 3,000 to 4,000 graduate students to its Arlington campus by 2024. A George Mason official told the WBJ it also plans to provide space for tech startups and innovation labs for big companies. GMU's Arlington campus is roughly 3 miles from where Amazon is building its second headquarters.
The plans for collaborating with the private sector are similar to the strategy Virginia Tech is pursuing at its new $1B campus in Potomac Yard, which was announced in November alongside the Amazon HQ2 selection. Both schools are Virginia public universities, and a major component of the commonwealth's winning bid on Amazon was its commitment to developing a tech talent pipeline.
The University of Maryland last month announced plans to open an 8K SF space in Crystal City to foster collaboration between students, faculty and businesses in the area.
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