Facebook is positioning itself to build a third data center in Prineville, much smaller than the 334,000-square-foot data center already completed and its twin building under construction on the bluffs overlooking the town.

The company in December received a permit from Crook County to construct a 41,600-square-foot building on Southwest Connect Way, where its other data centers are located.

But company officials have no plan to move forward with the third building anytime soon, according to Lee Weinstein, a Facebook spokesman. They’re focusing on the second building, which could be fully operational by the end of 2013.

“At this time there is no construction scheduled on a third data center building. That decision will be made as business needs dictate,” Weinstein said.

When the data center does get built, it’s possible the building would be 62,000 square feet, which is the size the company applied for in August. Facebook is getting the permits in phases, he said, with options to expand.

The December permit for the third building lists the project value at $4.7 million. Mechanical and electrical permits for the building run the total project value to about $6.8 million, Crook County permit records show.

Construction on the second building is progressing, more than a year after its ground breaking. Facebook recently started putting servers in a section of the building called Suite A, Weinstein said.

Servers make a data center tick, storing company information on rows of these servers throughout the center.

“Construction is moving forward with suites B through D, which should be completed by the end of 2013,” Weinstein said.

Facebook has made a pretty big splash in Prineville since the company announced its data center plans in early 2010. The company employs about 70 workers to operate the data centers.

Portland-based contractor Fortis Construction has handled much of the construction, but local subcontractors have gotten a piece of the work as well.

Computer giant Apple has also been building data centers in Prineville. Permit fees collected by Crook County on these data center projects allowed the county to bring several half-time employees to full-time, according to The Bulletin’s archives.