Dive Brief:
- Although its "spaceship" Apple Campus 2 project is still underway in Cupertino, CA, Apple and the city of San Jose, CA, are negotiating a development agreement that would pave the way for another, much larger campus — up to 4.15 million square feet on 86 acres, the Silicon Valley Business Journal reported.
- The tentative agreement, which has yet to be finalized, will go before the city’s planning commission for approval later this month and will cement development rights for 15 years.
- The plan includes three parcels, and Apple has already leased a 200,000-square-foot building on one of them. The development agreement does not describe what types of buildings Apple would build on the site but outlines its intended use as "industrial development, including office, research and development, manufacturing and other related and supporting uses."
Dive Insight:
Apple, which has made no comment regarding the San Jose property, already has the city’s business community buzzing with a reported 777,000-square-foot office building lease deal and land purchases in the area.
After the California Department of Motor Vehicles let slip to the San Jose Mercury News in September that the agency had met with Apple about its rules for testing autonomous vehicles on public streets, a popular rumor is that Apple is looking for R&D space to work on a self-driving car.
Ever since Apple broke ground on its "spaceship" project in Cupertino, CA, it has drawn attention for a project that "has raised the bar for construction standards." The campus has also seen its challenges as well, and, after budget overruns and delays, Apple replaced Skanska and DPR as general contractors mid-project.