Microsoft has been incentivizing its internal divisions to shift from legacy data center space to Azure. So some of that spending is for new servers and data center space to in-source services hosted by third-party providers. Or, in some cases, older Microsoft data centers. More here: http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2011/06/01/at-mi...
Robert Scoble of Rackspace also posted photos and video from that initial tour. Since then Facebook has held two media tours of the facility. It's not rare at all, but the media that are just now gaining access are using the usual overhyped headlines to attract eyeballs.