PRINEVILLE — Apple Inc. filed a structural permit application with Crook County on April 2 to build out the remaining portion of the company’s data center.

Ken Fahlgren, commissioner for Crook County, said the addition would consist of two final “pods,” the large structures that house hundreds of computer servers, which Apple uses for its cloud computing services.

“We’re excited to see the beginning of the last portion of the building,” Fahlgren said.

Josh Smith, senior planner with the city of Prineville, said Apple only built two of the proposed eight pods when the project began in 2012. The company has slowly added pods, each of which measures 35,473 square feet, as needed over the ensuing three years. He added that the proposed structures would be located in the southeastern corner of the building, and would complete the project.

“Once they start the project, they have as much time as they need,” Smith said.

Smith said he didn’t know exactly how many people would be involved in the construction, but speculated that there could be as many as 120 people working on the buildings at any one time. He added that the pods should be completed by the end of 2015.

The expansion has an estimated value of $5.88 million, according to the permit application. A separate application for just under $638,000 was filed concurrently for the same project. Mary Chapman, permit tech with the Crook County Building Department, said the secondary permit was for interior work on the building, including sewage, and would be one of several similar permits that would be filed as the project progresses. Both applications was filed the same day Gov. Kate Brown signed Senate Bill 611, legislation that would limit the way data centers get taxed.

For Prineville, Apple’s data center represented an opportunity to diversify an economy that was hit hard during the recession.

“We had the highest unemployment in the state at one point,” Fahlgren said.

However, the community of about 9,000 people was able to attract two data centers from Facebook as well as the one from Apple during a three-year stretch beginning in 2010.

Smith said Apple submitted plans to build a second data center on an adjacent parcel, though he added that the timeline for construction is not known. However, Crook County requested an expansion to the city’s urban growth boundary in November to encompass 114 acres, including the property for the second center. The request also sought to change the zoning from exclusive farm use to light industrial.

Fahlgren attributed the city’s ability to attract data centers to tax breaks, as well as support from the community and the fact that the region fell within the elevation and temperature ranges that tech companies look for.

Overall, there were 1.3 million square feet of new construction as part of the projects during 2012, leading to increased employment, and money from permit fees and other expenses.

“This has been very beneficial for the area,” Fahlgren said.

— Reporter: 541-617-7818, shamway@bendbulletin.com