Was Apple Planning on Doubling Its North Carolina Data Center All Along?

A quick update on Apple’s Maiden, N.C., data center and my post last week reporting that the company was considering doubling its size. Over the weekend, N.C. realtor Bill Wagenseller shot some new aerial video of the site that shows additional construction underway behind the current data center, which would seem to support that claim.

It’s worth noting that doubling the 500,000-square-foot space may have been Apple’s plan all along. Photos posted to a Catawba County, N.C., Flickr page and labled “Apple_Maiden-07-06-2009-114″ and “Apple_Maiden-07-06-2009-115″ show architectural renderings of the Maiden, N.C., facility with one and two data center structures (click on image below to enlarge).

An alternate theory being batted around here and at MacRumors, as well: The data center in the video above is actually just 250,000 square feet, and the construction occuring next to it is the beginnings of a second identical structure that would bring the total square footage of data center space to that 500,000-square-foot number. Again, just a theory. I’ll ask around and update here if I discover anything more.

(Thanks Bill, Allie)

[Image credit: Catawba County/ Flickr]