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County officials are keeping quiet, but signs are starting to point to the Catawba County town of Maiden as the site of Apple's new $1 billion data center.
It would make sense: Catawba County's economic development office announced this week that town and county officials will hold a joint meeting Monday for an “announcement.”
Since Gov. Bev Perdue announced June 3 that the state hammered out an economic incentive deal with the computer company, Catawba and Cleveland counties have surfaced as the top prospects.
And Maiden, a town of about 3,500 people about 40 miles northwest of Charlotte, has two suitable sites that the county has been marketing.
Apple spokesman Scott Dowling would say only that the company has not made any announcements about a location. He would not confirm or deny if Apple has chosen a site.
But online industry publications MacNN, the Mac Observer, Data Center Knowledge and the Web Host Server Review are all speculating that Apple is headed to Maiden.
Town leaders say even they don't know the facts.
“I can guess what the announcement is, but I don't know,” said Maiden Mayor Pro Tem Marcus Midgett. “It definitely would have something to do with a new business. Whether it be Apple or not, I just can't speculate.”
And advocates for a Cleveland County location haven't yet been told to drop the chase.
“As of today, they haven't told us anything,” said John Barker Sr., a Shelby-based industrial real estate broker. “I would be amazed if they were this quick.”
N.C. lawmakers passed legislation in June that would cut Apple's tax bill by $46 million over a decade. The company has pledged to hire 50 full-time employees, and the state says Apple's presence would support as many as 3,000 jobs in related industries.
The data center is likely to support iTunes and the app store for the iPhone.
