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Omaha-area economic development leaders will tell you it’s been a long road to land Facebook’s newest data center.

“We swung and missed and swung and missed,” said Randy Thelen, senior vice president for economic development for the Greater Omaha Chamber Economic Development Partnership. “And hit the grand slam.”

A grand slam, indeed. Lured at least in part by millions in state tax incentives, Facebook will pour at least $200 million, likely much more, into building a 970,000-square-foot data center campus south of Papillion. That’s comparable, square footage-wise, to the approximately 1 million-square-foot First National Bank Tower in downtown Omaha. The data center at Nebraska Highway 50 and Capehart Road will be the social media giant’s sixth in the United States and its ninth worldwide.

It’s expected to create about 1,000 temporary construction jobs and at least 100 permanent jobs. It’ll pave the way for future development along the Highway 50 corridor, including a possible expansion of its own across the highway. And it’s anticipated to provide a “significant” boost to property tax revenue.