Update 3:30 p.m.: Apple easily won approval from the Reno City Council on Wednesday for a new agreement allowing it to take advantage of millions of dollars in sales tax abatements as it works to double the size of its massive data center east of Reno.

Only Councilwoman Jenny Brekhus voted against the agreement that will allow Apple to buy land in downtown Reno instead of lease it to be eligible for a tax break that will bring its sales tax rate down to 0.5 percent.

The vote came moments after Apple executive Mike Foulkes announced Apple will invest another $1 billion in expanding its data center at the Reno Technology Park in the Truckee River canyon east of Sparks.

"We’re excited to announce Apple will be increasing our investment by an additional $1 billion," Foulkes said, saying it will bring "hundreds of jobs in operations and construction."

Apple needs the expanded data center to meet its soaring iCloud storage demands. The announcement is the latest in a string of technology company expansions in Northern Nevada, which is becoming home to a thriving data storage industry.

Last month, Google, Inc. purchased 1,210 acres of land at the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center for nearly $29.1 million, according to documents filed with Storey County. Northern Nevada also attracted two high profile data center projects last year. Switch’s SuperNAP colocation data center at the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center is planned to be the largest data center facility in the world once finished. Apple is also set to get a new neighbor with cloud services company Rackspace planning to build a data center at Reno Technology Park.

Apple's original $1 billion data center was awarded $89 million in state property and sales tax abatements in 2012. The value of those abatements will increase with the expansion of the data center.

More:How Apple's Reno warehouse became eligible for a tourism tax break

Because of a quirk in state law, the state can abate all but 2 percent of the sales tax rate paid by Apple on the computer equipment needed for its data center.

As part of Wednesday's deal, however, Apple will build a warehouse on land in downtown Reno that's part of a tourism improvement district created in 2009. By moving the computer equipment needed for the data center through that warehouse, it will be able to chip another 1.5 percent off its sales tax rate.

Foulkes said Apple plans to spend $4 million on the warehouse.

"We think it will be the most beautiful building in that corridor," he said.

Usually Apple does not put signage on "high security buildings," but Foulkes said the company will make an exception for the downtown warehouse to appease the Reno City Council.

Council members hope the Apple warehouse will spur additional development in the downtrodden corner of downtown known as the Tessera District. Rather than a non-descript warehouse, they want it to advertise that Apple is a downtown business.

The Tessera developers originally planned a $350 million mixed-use development that would includes hotels, retail shops and office buildings. Partner Steve Polikalas said that vision has changed after the recession.

Tessera developers now hope to develop an "innovation district" that is home to technology and research companies that want to be close to the University of Nevada, Reno.

Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve applauded Apple's decision to build in downtown Reno, noting the company helped spur a rapid expansion of technology companies in Northern Nevada.

Brekhus, an outspoken opponent of tax abatements, disagreed. She questioned whether the 2012 city council abused its discretion is approving a tourism tax abatement for a warehouse. She wanted to halt the agreement, noting Nevada residents have had to bear tax increases that will be abated for Apple under the old agreement.

"Let's send the message...that we are ending this unfair advantage of tax deals for some powerful, well-connected corporations and not for the rest of us," Brekhus said.

Nevada's economic development director Steve Hill said the council was powerless to change the tax abatement deal. Even if the council hadn't approved the change from a lease to a sale for the downtown land, Apple still would have been eligible for the tax break.

"Nothing that you would do today would change the agreement from five years ago," Hill said.

Councilman Paul McKenzie, who also has been a vocal critic of tax abatements, said he probably would have opposed the deal five years ago. But since then, he said the construction of the Apple data center kept many construction workers employed with a "living wage" during the severe recession.

"I can tell you and everybody listening today that I know a lot of guys wouldn’t have been eating the last five years if not for Apple," McKenzie said. "The gone to work on that project, made a living wage and fed their families. It’s been a true benefit to the community."

Apple's expansion is expected to generate 100 permanent jobs and 300 construction jobs. The company already has about 717 employees in the state, mostly from its five retail stores.

Gov. Brian Sandoval praised the expansion announcement.

“Apple was the first major economic development success in Northern Nevada and helped place this region on the technology and innovation map," he said in a statement. "Apple’s decision to increase their local investment by $1 billion is a testament to our successful partnership and a demonstration that the best companies in the world are coming to Nevada, creating hundreds of jobs, investing in our communities and making our state their permanent home.”

Original Story: An Apple executive announced Wednesday the technology company will double its investment in its data center in the Reno Technology Park, spending an additional $1 billion to build and equip the campus in coming years.

The project will generate "hundreds of jobs in construction and operation," said Mike Foulkes, Apple's director of state and local government affairs.

The increased investment also means the value of its sales and property tax abatements, originally valued at $89 million, will expand. Specific figures weren't immediately available.The announcement came as the company sought approval of a new agreement with the Reno City Council that will allow it to take advantage of an estimated $6 million in sales tax abatements.

That deal involves Apple's purchase of a vacant lot on the corner of Evans Avenue and Fifth Street in downtown Reno for a shipping and receiving warehouse. The lot is in a tourism improvement district, allowing the company to lower the sales tax rate it pays on its computer equipment to 0.5 percent that will flow through the building on its way to the data center.

Foulkes said Apple plans to spend $4 million building the warehouse.

"We think it will be the most beautiful building in that corridor," he said.

Editor's note: This is a breaking story. Check back for updates.