Usually, three’s a crowd but that isn’t stopping Facebook Inc. from filing plans to build a third data center in Prineville. The new facility will be much smaller than its previous two projects, the mammoth 334,000-square-foot behemoth of bits and a second twin next door currently under construction.
Facebook officials say the latest addition to its string of data centers will weigh in at nearly 62,000-square feet. No additional employees will be necessary and the facility will mainly be staffed with workers from its other two centers.
Familiar tech bellwethers such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Yahoo and Dell are all Oregonian neighbors in the High Desert and along the Columbia River Gorge and are part of a thriving technology boom in the Beaver State during an anemic economic period in the United States.
The ease and availability of lower electricity bills, abundant juice for its humming servers and juicy tax breaks have all enticed these firms to build where the West is best.
Facebook’s new application gives Crook County and City of Prineville officials time to review their blueprints and plans before final approval.
“Facebook decides when and if to build additional structures as business needs dictate,” company spokesman Lee Weinstein told CBS News. “This building has always been on the drawing board.”
