Facebook’s Prineville Data Center expands yet again, adding ninth building
Total investment tops $2 billion; crews have COVID-19 measures in place
PRINEVILLE, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Ten years after breaking ground in Prineville, Facebook is yet again expanding its mammoth Prineville Data Center, having begun construction this week on its ninth building that will add another 450,000 square feet, the company announced Thursday.
"That means that, once completed, this nine-building data center will represent an investment of more than $2 billion and more than 13 years of building in Prineville," Facebook said in a posting to the data center's Facebook page.
"We have worked closely with our general contractor to implement the proper measures due to COVID-19 to ensure all crews are safe," the social media giant said. "The health and safety of our teams and the community continue to be a priority."
The company added, "Thank you Prineville, Crook County and Oregon for being great partners! We are so honored to be part of the community and look forward to continuing this strong partnership for years to come."
When complete in 2023, the nine-building campus will consist of nearly 40 million square feet, equivalent to 24 Costco stores dropped on the edge of a small Oregon town with about 10,000 residents, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.
Facebook, like other companies with big data centers, was lured to Oregon by big property tax breaks that saved the company nearly $74 million in its first six years in Oregon, the newspaper reported.
While data centers like Facebook only need a few hundred employees to operate, the construction jobs with the numerous phases of expansion have had a sizable positive economic impact. The city of Prineville also receives more than $2 million a year in franchise fees related to their power use.
The number of construction jobs at the new building will determined by the contractor, Fortis Construction, but Facebook anticipates there will be 600 construction workers on site at peak.
In 2018, Facebook announced the data center would be supported by 100% renewable energy from new projects in the region Those projects continue to be under construction but, in line with Facebook's global goal, the company said the data center will be supported by 100% renewable energy by the end of the year.
On the operational side, currently, more than 350 jobs are supported at the Prineville Data Center, the company said. Once completed, they anticipate the entire data center will support more than 450 jobs.
Apple has two large data centers nearby in Prineville and is getting set to build a third, The Oregonian reported.
Last month, a Lake Oswego data center services company, Birch Infrastructure, paid the Department of State Lands $4.5 million for 159 acres south of Prineville Airport, but it has not yet announced its plans.
And that ninth building may not be the last. Facebook said it could expand the site further, "based on business needs."
