“In early 2009, developer Unique Infrastructure Group thought it would be a good idea to build a campus in Northern Nevada to attract data centers. The decision would ultimately culminate in the Reno Technology Park east of Sparks,” Jason Hidalgo reports for The Reno Gazette-Journal. “It was a bold bet. Nevada did not even crack the top 20 for data center locations among site selectors at the time, said Mike Kazmierski, president and CEO of the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada.”
“Once the group decided to build the campus, it was time to cast its nets to find clients for their facility. In the prized waters of the data center sector, a certain company based in Cupertino, Calif., was easily one of the bigger fish. With the continued growth of services such as iTunes and the App Store, reaching out to Apple two years ago was a no-brainer, Steve Polikalas, Unique Infrastructure Group’s attorney, said,” Hidalgo reports. “‘The data center project has been reaching out to potential tenants for quite some time,’ Polikalas said. ‘Apple’s data storage needs are growing as fast as the technology seems to be, and that’s a company that’s always on top of anybody’s wish list.'”
Hidalgo reports, “Despite Northern Nevada’s geographic appeal, serious hurdles remained that could scuttle a deal with Apple… The next step was creating an incentive package that was attractive enough for Apple… The combined efforts yielded a package of three tax abatements.”
Tons more in the full article here.
Related articles:
Reno City Council unanimously approves 79% tax break for Apple data center – June 28, 2012
Apple confirms Reno, Nevada as the site of its next U.S. data center pending tax break deals – June 26, 2012
Travis County approves tax incentives for Apple’s Austin campus expansion – May 2, 2012
Apple gets 15-year property tax exemption for $250 million data center in Prineville, Oregon – April 20, 2012
Apple confirms plans for Prineville, Oregon data center; deal signed after state senate passed tax legislation – February 22, 2012
Apple lobbies Obama for tax holiday, wants to bring overseas bounty home – August 24, 2011
U.S Senate Democrat Schumer allies with Apple, other multinationals on repatriation tax talks – June 21, 2011
Governor signs tax break, Apple confirms it will build NC data center, investing at least $1 billion – June 3, 2009
North Carolina Senate approves tax law change for Apple Inc. in 40-8 vote – June 2, 2009
North Carolina lawmakers OK tax incentives for Apple Inc. – May 27, 2009
Good for them.
Money.
Go to the article “Here” link and click it. Go to the bottom of the page and click on the “Mug Shot” button. There are some real, ah, different looking types in Reno/Sparks.
Wow those mug shots are scary as hell! I’m going to have night mares lol… yikes.
Way OT but here goes:
Ottorino Respighi was an Italian composer of note who lived in the early part of the 20th century. He traveled to the US quite often and was immensely in love with San Francisco. He spent so much time there that he found himself in a small circle of music-loving San Franciscans, one of whom kept referring to him as Sparks.
Respighi let this go but at one point his curiosity overcame him. He asked his friend why he called him Sparks.
The friend replied that to get to San Francisco he traveled by railroad and the train went through Sparks, Nevada, right?
Respighi answered that indeed it did go through Sparks but what was point?
The friend then said that Sparks was outta Reno, right?