Apple's 'Campus 2' project granted final approval by Cupertino City Council
After hours of discussion stretching far into Tuesday night, the Cupertino City Council voted unanimously to give Apple the green light on its massive "spaceship campus" project.
The decision follows an identical vote from the city's planning commission, which gave Apple the go-ahead earlier in October after holding a "shared study session" with members of the public.
As noted by MacRumors, the city council's decision is final pending a 10-day period reserved for petitions for reconsideration. Barring any setbacks, Apple will be given permits to start clearing ground on the former HP campus and begin prepping the site for the new 2.8-million-square-foot circular "spaceship."
In August, AppleInsider offered a first look at the site as buildings were being demolished in an initial salvage and destroy operation.
Late Apple cofounder Steve Jobs unveiled the huge project in 2011, noting that the enormous main structure would house 12,000 employees. More importantly, landscaping, greenery and walking paths will cover a large portion of the 150-acre plot, reclaiming land currently obscured by asphalt.
The original price of the build was expected to be near $3 billion, but the budget quickly soared to $5 billion, causing a delay as architects tried to bring down costs. So-called "fit and finish" aspects of the planned construction, like the monolithic curved glass windows lining the main building's perimeter, were said to account for most of the inflated price tag.
Alongside the four story main structure with open-air courtyard will be secondary office buildings, revised plans call for a 120,000-square-foot underground auditorium, above and below ground parking, bike paths, reconfigured public streets and pedestrian walkways, among other enhancements.
Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed in February that the company plans to complete construction of the project and move in by 2016.
As with previous city council meetings regarding Apple's Campus 2, a livestream of the proceedings, along with a digital copy of the agenda, was made available to those interested. A recorded version of the video is expected to be available on the Cupertino City website soon.
According to the council's upcoming events calendar, a press conference will announce the Campus 2 decision on Wednesday at 10 a.m. Pacific, 1 p.m. Eastern. The agreement between Apple and the City of Cupertino will made official at a public meeting on Nov. 19.
The decision follows an identical vote from the city's planning commission, which gave Apple the go-ahead earlier in October after holding a "shared study session" with members of the public.
As noted by MacRumors, the city council's decision is final pending a 10-day period reserved for petitions for reconsideration. Barring any setbacks, Apple will be given permits to start clearing ground on the former HP campus and begin prepping the site for the new 2.8-million-square-foot circular "spaceship."
In August, AppleInsider offered a first look at the site as buildings were being demolished in an initial salvage and destroy operation.
Late Apple cofounder Steve Jobs unveiled the huge project in 2011, noting that the enormous main structure would house 12,000 employees. More importantly, landscaping, greenery and walking paths will cover a large portion of the 150-acre plot, reclaiming land currently obscured by asphalt.
The original price of the build was expected to be near $3 billion, but the budget quickly soared to $5 billion, causing a delay as architects tried to bring down costs. So-called "fit and finish" aspects of the planned construction, like the monolithic curved glass windows lining the main building's perimeter, were said to account for most of the inflated price tag.
Alongside the four story main structure with open-air courtyard will be secondary office buildings, revised plans call for a 120,000-square-foot underground auditorium, above and below ground parking, bike paths, reconfigured public streets and pedestrian walkways, among other enhancements.
Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed in February that the company plans to complete construction of the project and move in by 2016.
As with previous city council meetings regarding Apple's Campus 2, a livestream of the proceedings, along with a digital copy of the agenda, was made available to those interested. A recorded version of the video is expected to be available on the Cupertino City website soon.
According to the council's upcoming events calendar, a press conference will announce the Campus 2 decision on Wednesday at 10 a.m. Pacific, 1 p.m. Eastern. The agreement between Apple and the City of Cupertino will made official at a public meeting on Nov. 19.
Comments
One of the many gifts Steve, Prometheus of modern times, left to us......
It can be improved: it's not thin enough.
For those interested, the glass is coming from www.seele.com who already did a few Apple Stores. Check out their references, like the opera in Dallas:
That certainly is a positive view you have; other shareholders say it is an outrageous capex.
I think it is way too positive as well. They are relying on so many suppliers and 3rd parties, this is not something that is in their control. At all. We're not talking about: "you can do it, make it so, you have 6 months". We're looking at fabricating and shipping. Installing, fitting, all the tech stuff that is going in there, things that have never been done before. Heck, there are 1,000 trees they are going to move off-site, and put back after the buildings have been completed, so naturing nature is also a variable.
And last but not least, I wouldn't think Apple would want there to be any construction going on after people already have moved in. So, finish, at least noise-wise, every single building before anyone gets to sit in their new chair.
Interesting, thanks, I was wondering who the heck . . .
.....
And last but not least, I wouldn't think Apple would want there to be any construction going on after people already have moved in. So, finish, at least noise-wise, every single building before anyone gets to sit in their new chair.
With a structure that large it's easy to segment the completion: allowing people to occupy each quadrant successively as they are completed. More traditional buildings have been rolled out that way forever: I've been in a couple.
They didn't empty the Pentagon while they rebuilt did they? Because there was no need to and, as a matter of fact, they'd reinforced and remodeled segments just before the 9/11 attack where similarly everything except the area under remodeling was kept up and running. It was that restructuring that was credited with isolating the damage.
Good to know on the Pentagon restructuring; didn't know that.
I do think the mere on- and off-site going trucks would be annoying as hell if I were to work there. And that is presuming all the drilling and other way louder noise isn't going on.
Probably widows living off their husbands investment accounts. Seriously for a business Apples size this is a wise investment. It really isn't a problem. Think about it, high unemployment means lots of workers and contractors just waiting to get on board. Beyond that I'd expect Apple to be moving in well before the entire facility is finished.
Non sense. Anybody in a commercial building eventually has to live with a little noise and construction. It isn't a static world out there you know.
As for finishing on time, that is really up to the estimators and construction managers.
Good to know on the Pentagon restructuring; didn't know that.
I do think the mere on- and off-site going trucks would be annoying as hell if I were to work there. And that is presuming all the drilling and other way louder noise isn't going on.
You'd be spot on with a normal scale site and structure I expect: but this thing is on the horizontal scale of the Pentagon and so access for the heavy stuff can likely be channeled away from the occupied segments. Such a "waste" of area, as compared to a vertical skyscraper, has that advantage, there being a lot more approach options than with a small footprint building.
It will be interesting to see this develop. Hopefully it won't be too distracting for TC and the senior leaders.
If they want to get it done as quickly as possible, they'll bring on thousands and thousands of workers for 3 years and then be done. It would probably be better all around if they took longer and used fewer people. If nothing else it would be less disruptive to the area economy.
I assume they will go for the "big bang" of completing the entire thing at once, but obviously they could work on it in sections and have, say 1/3 of the perimeter completely done, before moving onto the next segment.
In any case that's going to be a massive construction project.
…other shareholders say it is an outrageous capex.
If that’s their view, nothing prevents them from selling their stock. (Nothing obligates anyone to purchase products made by Apple either.) Contrast this with government: we have no say in how the government is run (or even if it runs) yet we are forced to pay for their ‘product’ or risk severe consequences.
Thankfully, shareholders have no say in how most companies are run; which is why they continue to thrive and make money for their shareholders.