Data Centers: We’re dealin’, Apple tells potential North Carolina vendors
Want to supply fiber optic cable to Apple Inc.? Or maybe mow the grass?
Now that an Apple data center is officially coming to Maiden, in southern Catawba County, lots of people will want a bite.
It’s way too early to apply for one of the 50 jobs that will be filled when the 500,000-square foot center opens in late 2010 at U.S. 321 and Startown Road. But with construction expected to start in August, residents can now contact Apple directly if they want to be a vendor, service provider or independent contractor, said Scott Millar, executive director of the Catawba County Economic Development Corp.
Apple has pledged to buy supplies and materials locally and regionally whenever possible, Millar said. Site work on the 183-acre site should start once final details, such as the town of Maiden annexing the land and Apple buying the property, are complete.
The EDC has an option on the land, which is owned by Don Beaver, owner of the Hickory Crawdads and Charlotte Knights baseball teams. Millar said the EDC expects to exercise its option and then sell the land at the same price to Apple. The sale price has not been determined, but Millar said Tuesday it will be market value.
Then EDC will start shopping for more land like the site that won over Apple. That parcel was a winner because it has access to large amounts of power and water and both primary and backup supplies of each, he said.
That redundancy will be key to keeping Apples’ many computer servers powered and cool, even if there is a storm or water-line break.
A 36-inch water line from Hickory runs 2,000 feet from the site and a new, smaller loop line in the same area will provide backup service. Duke Energy also has two major lines running south from Hickory and north from Lincolnton.
The data center will use about 20 megawatts annually – enough to power 16,000 homes.
Millar said he thought the Startown Road property would have enough land for three or four small companies and would take several years to fully develop. But then Apple called.
“We didn’t expect the monster company that we got to come in and take it all,” he said in an interview Tuesday morning, the day after the official announcement at Maiden’s recreation center. Apple is expected to support its iTunes and iPhone stores from the Maiden site, which will be its only operation on the East Coast.
At $1 billion, it is the largest private investment in North Carolina, Secretary of Commerce Keith Crisco said at the Monday night announcement.
North Carolina provided incentives of $46 million. Apple will bring an estimated $10 million in extra tax revenue over the 10 years for Maiden and Catawba County. That does not include revenue on water sales to Hickory or about $200,000 a year to Maiden as a tax on power sales.
Apple has committed to hiring 50 employees; about 250 other contract employees are also expected to work there. And officials say that Apple’s presence, not just its payroll, will have a major effect on Catawba County.
Max Bumgarner owns 67 acres south of town and another 60 acres east of town. Like dozens of other curious townspeople, Bumgarner came to the Maiden recreation center Monday night to hear the announcement about Apple first-hand.
He ticks off things that Maiden has going for it: Southern Catawba County is within commuting distance from Charlotte, and the town will feel the economic impact of nearby Lincolnton and the new N.C. 16. And now Apple.
“This is going to be good for Maiden,” Bumgarner said.
Contact the computer giant directly if you want to be a vendor, service provider or independent contractor.
By Dianne Whitacre Straley, Special Correspondent for the Charlotte Observer
