The media was all over Apple’s $1 bil data center in Reno.

Apple’s largest project in the area, however, is its new $1 billion iCloud data center that includes both a large, rural parcel of land within the nearby Reno Technology Park and plans to build new supporting facilities on the edge of downtown.

I don’t know about you, but my friends had a good laugh at speculation that Apple was building 1 billion worth of data centers in Reno.

Well here is a progress based on RGJ reporting on the tax benefits of the Reno data center.

Meanwhile, the data center is projected to generate more than $142,000 in property taxes for the 2013-14 fiscal year, according to the Department of Taxation. The amount is generated from a total taxable value of $14.85 million based on Washoe County Assessor data.

This construction cost fits with a 2.5 MW data center build.

Today, thanks to its high-profile tenant, the Reno Technology Park is starting to take shape. Earlier this summer, Apple completed its first phase — a 20,000-square-foot, 2.5-megawatt data center.

That is the wonderful power of the Apple brand. Who else could get the amount of press coverage for a 2.5 MW, $15 mil data center building. If you say this is the first of four phases, Reno could be 10MW and $60 Mil. If this is one tenth, then you get 25MW and $150mil. To get to $1Bil data center you need to multiple this first building by 66.