Apple expands beyond Cupertino with large Sunnyvale lease
Ahead of the completion of its planned "spaceship" headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., Apple has started to expand outside its hometown by leasing a substantial amount of office space in Sunnyvale that could house more than 1,300 employees.
According to real estate agents from Colliers International, the Sunnyvale Research Center will be home to potentially thousands of Apple employees as the tech giant looks for office and research space outside of its Cupertino base-camp, reports Mercury News.
"Apple is going to start moving into the buildings by the end of the first quarter," said Donald Reimann, a senior vice president with Colliers. "This is really a good fit for Apple because it's close to their headquarters."
The four-building complex covers 215,000 square feet and is located about seven miles away from Apple's current campus at 1 Infinite Loop.
It seems that the Mac maker is looking to expand even further as reports claim that the company has begun interior improvements on two buildings at a different Sunnyvale location, which has more than 100,000 square feet of space. Together, the six buildings can accommodate around 1,300 people.
Real estate sources claim that Apple is looking to rent a total of about 700,000 to 800,000 square feet in Sunnyvale, but the rumors have yet to be confirmed.
"Having Apple in Sunnyvale would be great," said Sunnyvale city spokesman John Pilger. "They are a fantastic company."
Sunnyvale Research Center | Source: Colliers
The area is a veritable hotbed of technology, with industry heavyweights Advanced Micro Devices, Yahoo and NetApp all calling the city home.
Recent expansions by Google and Apple have created a construction boom in Sunnyvale and Santa Clara as new towers are being built in anticipation of growing tech companies' need for space.
Apple has also leased space in Cupertino as it awaits competion of a one million square foot super-campus scheduled to open in 2015. Many have likened the new facility to a spaceship because its circular design is reminiscent of a classic sci-fi spacecraft.
It is unclear whether the Sunnyvale spaces will be permanent institutions for new hires or merely temporary facilities to which current Cupertino employees will be moved during relocation to the new "spaceship."
Comments
That new campus can't come soon enough.
large Sunnyvale lease
What is large about 4 buildings?
Especially compared to the dozens that Apple is currently occupying?
It is unclear whether the Sunnyvale spaces will be permanent institutions for new hires or merely temporary facilities to which current Cupertino employees will be moved during relocation to the new "spaceship."
New hires join groups, not buildings.
If you are Apple Employee 25676 (iOS Engineering), your desk is not going to be between those of Employee 25675 (Apple TV Marketing Associate III) and Employee 25677 (Director of Northern California Retail Sales).
The most likely scenario is that that certain groups in Cupertino would be moved to Sunnyvale, freeing up room for the remaining groups to expand into the vacated space.
My hunch is that Apple will lean toward moving non-engineering groups to Sunnyvale: Finance, Legal, Security, Facilities. Other non-core engineering groups might be Apple Retail (corporate), Corporate IS, some marketing teams.
If there's one engineering team that might be suitable to locate to Sunnyvale, it would be Siri. They were headquartered in San Jose before Apple acquired them.
These Sunnyvale leases are probably for 5 years or so, giving Apple the option of signing an extension or moving out. Apple's satellite campuses in Cupertino probably are staggered in terms of lease expiration, so Apple is probably shuffling people around constantly anyhow.
A year before the spaceship campus is completed, Apple's facilities planners will probably decide which buildings they will give up and which ones they will retain. Not even Apple will know exactly how many employees they will have then (given the fact that they could acquire another company at any time).
The likely scenario is that they will prioritize 1 Infinite Loop and nearby buildings (Mariani, De Anza, Bubb, etc.), particularly since Apple's HQ in the Eighties was on Mariani Avenue and they likely have some sentimental desire to maintain a presence where the company really got started.
New hires join groups, not buildings.
If you are Apple Employee 25676 (iOS Engineering), your desk is not going to be between those of Employee 25675 (Apple TV Marketing Associate III) and Employee 25677 (Director of Northern California Retail Sales).
The most likely scenario is that that certain groups in Cupertino would be moved to Sunnyvale, freeing up room for the remaining groups to expand into the vacated space.
My hunch is that Apple will lean toward moving non-engineering groups to Sunnyvale: Finance, Legal, Security, Facilities. Other non-core engineering groups might be Apple Retail (corporate), Corporate IS, some marketing teams.
If there's one engineering team that might be suitable to locate to Sunnyvale, it would be Siri. They were headquartered in San Jose before Apple acquired them.
These Sunnyvale leases are probably for 5 years or so, giving Apple the option of signing an extension or moving out. Apple's satellite campuses in Cupertino probably are staggered in terms of lease expiration, so Apple is probably shuffling people around constantly anyhow.
A year before the spaceship campus is completed, Apple's facilities planners will probably decide which buildings they will give up and which ones they will retain. Not even Apple will know exactly how many employees they will have then (given the fact that they could acquire another company at any time).
The likely scenario is that they will prioritize 1 Infinite Loop and nearby buildings (Mariani, De Anza, Bubb, etc.), particularly since Apple's HQ in the Eighties was on Mariani Avenue and they likely have some sentimental desire to maintain a presence where the company really got started.
Nice post. very interesting!
Steve Jobs always grew the company slowly, in terms of employees. I do wonder why they feel the need for so many new hires. Grow slow, fire slower... Don't get ahead of yourselves, Apple.
They're not. Apple's number of employees has grown FAR slower than revenues and profits.
Expand somewhere outside of CA and the beltway and costs go 1/2.
But then you get people that only expect to work 8 hours a day. There is no advantage to half the work for half the price.
Expand somewhere outside of CA and the beltway and costs go 1/2.
Heck, that's available inside of California.
Apple could build a huge campus in Hollister. Guess what? There aren't enough qualified engineers in Hollister.
You don't know this, but Silicon Valley has known this for decades: the greatest concentration of high-tech engineering talent is in the South Bay. Not on the Peninsula, not in San Francisco, not in the East Bay, etc.
Even if you can drop costs by moving elsewhere, you have to make sure you have adequate talent to fill the necessary spots.
If you want to reduce costs and not negatively impact your operations, you pick situations where you can hire and retain high-quality employees in that newly developed region from a sufficiently large pool of qualified candidates.
Apple's massive data center in Virginia is an example. It will probably only require 50-100 regular employees. Apple can't move their entire iOS development team to the same location.
If you're a high-tech company looking to relocate certain parts of your operation to reduce costs, you look at the skill set required.
They're not. Apple's number of employees has grown FAR slower than revenues and profits.
Correct.
Revenue per Apple employee has skyrocketed over the years, despite the fact that most of the employee growth has been in Apple Retail.
Nice post. very interesting!
Elementary, if you've ever worked in a Fortune 500 technology company.
Clearly the AppleInsider writer has never experienced it, hence the ludicrous proposal that the new buildings would be for new hires.
New hires join groups, not buildings.
If you are Apple Employee 25676 (iOS Engineering), your desk is not going to be between those of Employee 25675 (Apple TV Marketing Associate III) and Employee 25677 (Director of Northern California Retail Sales).
The most likely scenario is that that certain groups in Cupertino would be moved to Sunnyvale, freeing up room for the remaining groups to expand into the vacated space.
My hunch is that Apple will lean toward moving non-engineering groups to Sunnyvale: Finance, Legal, Security, Facilities. Other non-core engineering groups might be Apple Retail (corporate), Corporate IS, some marketing teams.
If there's one engineering team that might be suitable to locate to Sunnyvale, it would be Siri. They were headquartered in San Jose before Apple acquired them.
These Sunnyvale leases are probably for 5 years or so, giving Apple the option of signing an extension or moving out. Apple's satellite campuses in Cupertino probably are staggered in terms of lease expiration, so Apple is probably shuffling people around constantly anyhow.
A year before the spaceship campus is completed, Apple's facilities planners will probably decide which buildings they will give up and which ones they will retain. Not even Apple will know exactly how many employees they will have then (given the fact that they could acquire another company at any time).
The likely scenario is that they will prioritize 1 Infinite Loop and nearby buildings (Mariani, De Anza, Bubb, etc.), particularly since Apple's HQ in the Eighties was on Mariani Avenue and they likely have some sentimental desire to maintain a presence where the company really got started.
You sounds like one of the current "Apple Insiders" or past Apple employee.
The likely scenario is that they will prioritize 1 Infinite Loop and nearby buildings (Mariani, De Anza, Bubb, etc.), particularly since Apple's HQ in the Eighties was on Mariani Avenue and they likely have some sentimental desire to maintain a presence where the company really got started.
Don't forget Bandley...
Haven't been in Cupertino for ages -- Does Apple still occupy the "Taco Towers" building on De Anza?
1196 Borregas Ave., Sunnyvale
Is Apple expanding too fast?
No - just moving the troops closer to Mtn. View Goog