In this the 4th article of MacRo’s AI Corner, we explore how targeted zoning, infrastructure readiness, and surging demand for digital infrastructure have converged to produce record-setting land sales within Frederick County’s CDI Overlay Zone.
Over the past 24 months, land sales within Frederick County’s Critical Digital Infrastructure Overlay Zone (CDI-OZ) have quietly rewritten the county’s commercial real estate record books. Five data center–related transactions alone have generated nearly $800 million in land sales, underscoring both the market value of properly entitled digital infrastructure sites and the economic importance of the CDI-OZ framework.
The first of these transactions occurred on May 14, 2024, when Rowan Digital Infrastructure acquired 151.16 acres from the Quantum Frederick campus for $158,476,391, establishing a then-record $1,048,402 per acre price for a large tract transfer in Frederick County. The property—known as Bauxite I and located at the northeast corner of Mountville Road and Ballenger Creek Pike—has since been developed with four completed data center buildings totaling nearly 800,000 square feet, delivered to Amazon Data Services.
That per-acre record proved short-lived.
In 2025, Rowan completed three additional acquisitions totaling 314 acres within the CDI-OZ for a combined purchase price of $600,488,225—an average of $1,914,456 per acre, nearly doubling the prior benchmark. These parcels comprise Bauxite II and Bauxite III, where Rowan plans to construct seven additional data center buildings for Amazon Data Services. Based on current development timelines, this next phase is expected to be completed within approximately three years.
A separate CDI-OZ transaction further illustrates the breadth of demand for data center–entitled land. In late November 2024, an entity controlled by developer Tom Natelli sold 64.38 acres along Cap Stine Road to Frederick Data Owner, LLC, a Trammell Crow Company–controlled entity, for $32,189,715, or just under $500,000 per acre. While this project remains subject to additional public hearings and regulatory approvals, the sale price reinforces the premium the market places on land located within the CDI-OZ.
Taken together, these five transactions total $791,154,331 in sales volume, representing an extraordinary 48% of all commercial and industrial sales of improved and unimproved properties in Frederick County during 2024 and 2025. Over that two-year period, the county recorded 306 transfers totaling $497,425,417 in 2024 and 187 transfers totaling $1,139,730,689 in 2025, making the CDI-OZ transactions a dominant share of overall market activity.
Even before accounting for long-term property tax revenues from completed facilities, these five land transfers alone generated more than $11 million in recordation and document stamp taxes for Frederick County. That figure highlights a critical but often overlooked point: thoughtfully structured land-use policy can produce immediate fiscal benefits while also positioning the county for sustained, long-term revenue growth.
As Frederick County continues to implement its CDI-OZ strategy, these record-setting transactions demonstrate how targeted zoning, infrastructure readiness, and market demand can converge—turning a small geographic area into one of the most economically productive zones in the region.
With more than 50 years advising regional landowners, investors, and institutions, Rocky Mackintosh, Broker of MacRo, LTD has firsthand experience supporting nationally recognized hyperscalers with site search and selection services throughout the Mid-Atlantic. Our team has worked at the interface of land planning, infrastructure analysis, and high-value redevelopment—experience that uniquely informs our understanding of projects like Quantum Frederick.