Apple paid a premium to relocate family for NC data center
Apple paid as much as $1.7 million for one acre of land near its $1 billion North Carolina data center, which is nearing completion.
County records obtained by Bloomberg show that Apple purchased Donnie and Kathy Fulbright's one-acre property near Maiden, N.C., for $1.7 million. The Fulbrights had purchased the land for $6,000 and lived there for over 30 years. By comparison, the initial purchase of the land for the data center may have cost as little as $35,000 an acre.
It took several offers from Apple for the Fulbrights to consider moving. "They told us to put a price on it and we did," Kathy Fulbright told Bloomberg. Using the funds from the sale, the Fulbrights purchased a 49-acre piece of land with a 4,200-square-foot-house and a Jacuzzi, the report noted.
Apple's continued success drives increased need for such a large data center. ?Apple?s growth has been pretty dramatic and they have probably exceeded their capacity,? said David Cappuccio chief of research at Gartner. ?Between iTunes and the video store they are going to have, you?re talking about massive amounts of data and millions of people trying to access that at the same time.?
During an earnings call in July, Apple chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer told investors that the data center is "on schedule" and that Apple expects "to complete it by the end of the calendar year, and begin to use it." The Cupertino, Calif., company announced the project in June 2009.
Though the data center is widely viewed as the foundation for Apple's expansion into streaming video and other media, Gartner's Cappucio believes the center may also be used for as-yet-unannounced initiatives, such as social networking and web search, according to the Bloomberg report.
Codenamed 'Project Dolphin' by government officials, the $1 billion data center is expected to not only directly provide jobs for 50 people, but also generate 250 auxiliary jobs and create as many as 3,000 peripheral jobs for the local area.
The conditions for Apple's tax breaks included a stipulation that Apple build the center in an "economically-distressed area." Catawba County, where the complex is located, had an unemployment rate of 12.3 percent in August, compared with a state unemployment rate of 9.7 percent.
Bloomberg reported that Apple had received a sizable 50 percent reduction in real property taxes, and an 85 percent reduction in individual property taxes, according to the minutes of a meeting between the Catawba County Board of Commissioners and the Maiden Town Council. In return, Apple committed to spending at least $1 billion over the course of the ten year agreement and maintaining the expected 50 full time jobs at the center.
County records obtained by Bloomberg show that Apple purchased Donnie and Kathy Fulbright's one-acre property near Maiden, N.C., for $1.7 million. The Fulbrights had purchased the land for $6,000 and lived there for over 30 years. By comparison, the initial purchase of the land for the data center may have cost as little as $35,000 an acre.
It took several offers from Apple for the Fulbrights to consider moving. "They told us to put a price on it and we did," Kathy Fulbright told Bloomberg. Using the funds from the sale, the Fulbrights purchased a 49-acre piece of land with a 4,200-square-foot-house and a Jacuzzi, the report noted.
Apple's continued success drives increased need for such a large data center. ?Apple?s growth has been pretty dramatic and they have probably exceeded their capacity,? said David Cappuccio chief of research at Gartner. ?Between iTunes and the video store they are going to have, you?re talking about massive amounts of data and millions of people trying to access that at the same time.?
During an earnings call in July, Apple chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer told investors that the data center is "on schedule" and that Apple expects "to complete it by the end of the calendar year, and begin to use it." The Cupertino, Calif., company announced the project in June 2009.
Though the data center is widely viewed as the foundation for Apple's expansion into streaming video and other media, Gartner's Cappucio believes the center may also be used for as-yet-unannounced initiatives, such as social networking and web search, according to the Bloomberg report.
Codenamed 'Project Dolphin' by government officials, the $1 billion data center is expected to not only directly provide jobs for 50 people, but also generate 250 auxiliary jobs and create as many as 3,000 peripheral jobs for the local area.
The conditions for Apple's tax breaks included a stipulation that Apple build the center in an "economically-distressed area." Catawba County, where the complex is located, had an unemployment rate of 12.3 percent in August, compared with a state unemployment rate of 9.7 percent.
Bloomberg reported that Apple had received a sizable 50 percent reduction in real property taxes, and an 85 percent reduction in individual property taxes, according to the minutes of a meeting between the Catawba County Board of Commissioners and the Maiden Town Council. In return, Apple committed to spending at least $1 billion over the course of the ten year agreement and maintaining the expected 50 full time jobs at the center.
Comments
Wouldn't it be interesting if they used Linux to run their servers. Would they ever tell?
I would not be surprised if they have a few Linux and even more Windows servers, but I believe most of their servers are Apple Xserves from data center pictures that I have seen in the past. Google uses Linux heavily.
Apple sells very nice quad core and 8 core 1U Xserve servers, not to mention Mac Mini servers running OS X. Power efficiency will be important in such a large data center.
http://store.apple.com/us/browse/hom...co=MTY3ODQ5OTY
Imagine the expensive Cisco Network equipment in that data center. They make $1.7 million look like pocket change.
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/...632/index.html
Wouldn't it be interesting if they used Linux to run their servers. Would they ever tell?
There's not a lot of point to using Linux if you are willing to buy Apple hardware. I can only assume that Apple is willing to buy its own hardware.
There's not a lot of point to using Linux if you are willing to buy Apple hardware. I can only assume that Apple is willing to buy its own hardware.
Why buy your own gear? Fill the place with your own gear, take the hit for lost sales, and use the datacentre to shut those idiots who say Macs can't do business up.
That's what I'd do. What better sales pitch could you have than a multi-million dollar datacentre that pushes data around as though it was an air hockey puck over datacentres that run Windows that push data around like it's a brick on a rubber mat?
http://jobs.apple.com/index.ajs?BID=...&CurrentPage=4
Apple's heavily into SAP stuff as well to run their own operations if you look at other IT job openings in Cupertino.
Come on, Apple will soon be a $100 billion operation in annual sales. You think they'll use Xserve and QuickBooks to run their operations?
"Hey Gomer, did you hear Donnie and Kathy in Maiden got $1,700,000 for their land from them Apple folks"
"Gaww-lee Goober, no"
"Yea, and it was only one acre"
"THAT much for ONE acre?"
"Yea, is what Floyd told me"
"Shazaam, maybe we should start growing apples"
.
On a separate off topic note, not a big fan of corporations negotiating individual tax breaks, let each area/community compete on it's basic tax rates(revise the basic rates if a company were to move in) doesn't seem fair to the existing companies in the area, economics for the locals is not a sure thing, I know...not the real world.
It would be interesting to know how the back haul data pipes are being routed etc. I presume it would have to be massive? Who would they route through etc?
On a separate off topic note, not a big fan of corporations negotiating individual tax breaks, let each area/community compete on it's basic tax rates(revise the basic rates if a company were to move in) doesn't seem fair to the existing companies in the area, economics for the locals is not a sure thing, I know...not the real world.
KInd of of topic ... but it is an interesting twist on 'fair trade' I guess but that seems to be an oxymoron in this world. From my observations it seems a common practice. Several States run ads on TV advertising they do this. In fact, whole countries do this, I seem to recall Japan took on and decimated the UK's ship building through similar methods decades ago. Actually it would not be a bad idea if the US managed to bring back manufacturing to the US by similar methods since the jobs only left due to this exact thing in reverse, although labor costs were also key there ....
.
"Hey Gomer, did you hear Donnie and Kathy in Maiden got $1,700,000 for their land from them Apple folks"
"Gaww-lee Goober, no"
"Yea, and it was only one acre"
"THAT much for ONE acre?"
"Yea, is what Floyd told me"
"Shazaam, maybe we should start growing apples"
.
Barney Fife: "1.7 mil for one acre?! One!!! We've got to nip it! NIP IT IN THE BUD!!!"
KInd of of topic ... but it is an interesting twist on 'fair trade' I guess but that seems to be an oxymoron in this world. From my observations it seems a common practice. Several States run ads on TV advertising they do this. In fact, whole countries do this, I seem to recall Japan took on and decimated the UK's ship building through similar methods decades ago. Actually it would not be a bad idea if the US managed to bring back manufacturing to the US by similar methods since the jobs only left due to this exact thing in reverse, although labor costs were also key there ....
Actually it would be a bad thing. US companies make more money from things other than manufacturing.
Actually it would be a bad thing. US companies make more money from things other than manufacturing.
They may make more money, but never enough to replace the value of producing something real. Anyway, do we really need more lobbyists? Even if they make a lot of money for themselves and the politicians they buy off?
No, not greed. Just shareholder value maximization, my friend.
So what you are saying is if Apple had agreed to pay the standard tax rate that the stock of Apple would have been reduced in value? Say from $278 a share to 275 a share. Meaning the increase in value of Apple stock since January 2009 would only have been 335% instead of 338%. Good point, I don't know what I was thinking expecting such a sacrifice by the shareholders.
I would not be surprised if they have a few Linux and even more Windows servers, but I believe most of their servers are Apple Xserves from data center pictures that I have seen in the past. ...
It's been noted in the pas that Apple uses Linux in some of it's servers. They do use some Windows servers as well but not "more" by any means. Apple uses what works, and what is best for a given situation. They use their own gear, but if there is a better product for a particular situation they use that. This means that they only use Windows servers very minimally, Linux fairly often, and OS-X gear for the rest. (last I heard).