Fresh photos of Apple's Austin campus show nearly completed first building, new parking garage
As Apple's Austin, Tex., campus project moves closer to completion, new pictures of the expansion reveal work is continuing steadily, with a new parking garage going up and exterior glass being installed in one of the buildings.
AppleInsider reader Benjamin sent in a few new photos showing the progress at Apple's Austin expansion. Since the last images from January, one new structure has been erected, while the exterior of one office building appears to be nearing completion.
Once finished, the extension of Apple's existing operations center on Riata Vista Circle will be used as the company's "Americas Operations Center."
It is unclear what the status is regarding the interior design, but work has been continuous over the past two months,
As seen in the photo above, a new parking garage has been built adjacent to the second office building, possibly to accommodate some of the 3,600 new jobs said to be generated by the operations center. The new hires will more than double Apple's current Austin workforce.
According to reports, the new structures seen here will cover 200,000 square feet of office space and are part of the initial stage of construction, which is slated to cost $56 million. After phase one's estimated completion date in 2015, Apple is set to move onto phase two, which is even larger than the first and is expected to create 800,000 square feet of new operating space.
In all, the Austin campus expansion is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2021, by which time Apple will have spent $304 million in construction costs.
With its new operations center build, Apple will reportedly provide an average yearly salary of $35,000 for the bottom 10 percent of workers and a minimum wage of $11 per hour for contractors. In return, the company will receive $30 million in tax breaks.
Work on the project first began in December 2012.
AppleInsider reader Benjamin sent in a few new photos showing the progress at Apple's Austin expansion. Since the last images from January, one new structure has been erected, while the exterior of one office building appears to be nearing completion.
Once finished, the extension of Apple's existing operations center on Riata Vista Circle will be used as the company's "Americas Operations Center."
It is unclear what the status is regarding the interior design, but work has been continuous over the past two months,
As seen in the photo above, a new parking garage has been built adjacent to the second office building, possibly to accommodate some of the 3,600 new jobs said to be generated by the operations center. The new hires will more than double Apple's current Austin workforce.
According to reports, the new structures seen here will cover 200,000 square feet of office space and are part of the initial stage of construction, which is slated to cost $56 million. After phase one's estimated completion date in 2015, Apple is set to move onto phase two, which is even larger than the first and is expected to create 800,000 square feet of new operating space.
In all, the Austin campus expansion is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2021, by which time Apple will have spent $304 million in construction costs.
With its new operations center build, Apple will reportedly provide an average yearly salary of $35,000 for the bottom 10 percent of workers and a minimum wage of $11 per hour for contractors. In return, the company will receive $30 million in tax breaks.
Work on the project first began in December 2012.
Comments
Apple is expanding their America's Operations Center aggressively
[LIST]
[*] 200,000 square feet of office space slated to cost $56 million in the initial phase with an estimated completion date in 2015
[*] 800,000 square feet of new operating space scheduled to be completed by the end of 2021
[/LIST]
Apple is constructing at least two more data centers
[LIST]
[*] Apple is investing $1 billion over the next ten years in the Reno Technology Park which will feature 1.5 million square feet of space for [URL=http://appleinsider.com/articles/12/06/26/apple_to_invest_1b_in_nevada_data_center_business_facilities]Apple's data center[/URL] and is expected to go online later in 2012
[*] Apple may be close to having its Prineville, Ore., iCloud data center up and running in the [URL=http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/04/15/apple-now-hiring-for-oregon-data-center-as-project-moves-closer-to-completion]two 338,000 square-foot buildings[/URL]
[/LIST]
That sounds like a company that has very aggressive plans, in my opinion. In fact, that sounds like a company you would be nuts to beat against considering the last decade.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SolipsismX
I thought this would also be mostly automated but if they are building a parking garage there must be a fair amount of employees, unless there is an odd law that requires parking based on sqft.
I thought I remembered reading that completed project is supposed to add 1 million sq. ft of office space for 3K employees, presumably with cars.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MacBook Pro
What I find incredibly interesting is the expansive growth of Apple at the moment without any hint (other than nebulous rumors) of their future projects.
Apple is expanding their America's Operations Center aggressively
200,000 square feet of office space slated to cost $56 million in the initial phase with an estimated completion date in 2015
800,000 square feet of new operating space scheduled to be completed by the end of 2021
Apple is constructing at least two more data centers
That sounds like a company that has very aggressive plans, in my opinion. In fact, that sounds like a company you would be nuts to beat against considering the last decade.
A transiiton to insourcing back to the States? Perhaps expansion as well but also redistribution of where they do things?
Apple has sourced considerable labor within the United States. No one should believe for one moment that China will allow Apple or any other technology company to have significant manufacturing operations outside China. China has the entire world in the palm of their hand as least where technology is concerned.
That's certainly a lot more than I assumed prior to this article.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MacBook Pro
What I find incredibly interesting is the expansive growth of Apple at the moment without any hint (other than nebulous rumors) of their future projects.
Apple is expanding their America's Operations Center aggressively
200,000 square feet of office space slated to cost $56 million in the initial phase with an estimated completion date in 2015
800,000 square feet of new operating space scheduled to be completed by the end of 2021
Apple is constructing at least two more data centers
Apple is investing $1 billion over the next ten years in the Reno Technology Park which will feature 1.5 million square feet of space for Apple's data center and is expected to go online later in 2012
Apple may be close to having its Prineville, Ore., iCloud data center up and running in the two 338,000 square-foot buildings
That sounds like a company that has very aggressive plans, in my opinion. In fact, that sounds like a company you would be nuts to beat against considering the last decade.
The future and arguably the present rests on the services Apple provides. In order to sell more devices Apple needs to ramp up its services. We all love our devices but the experience is OSX and IOS. Well, those platforms are moving in large part to the cloud whih is what Apple is investing in - cloud construction. And it does also look like Apple is committed to bringing as much of its business to the US.
You're thinking of Dell and HP...
And what 80% of the pundits and analysts are saying.
Austin does have some very aggressive ratios in regards to impervious surface area and water drainage. Much of Austin sits atop an aquifer and the city would prefer slow "natural" drainage as opposed to just rushing off into the gutters.
Not certain it's related but wouldn't be surprising.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mex4eric
The office buildings look OK, but the parking garage is ugly. Could they not have hidden the parking garage by surrounding it by the office buildings or jazzed up the garage?
Yeah it's not that hard to make a parking garage look less . . . garage-like. I've seen one with frosted glass panels. Another with perforated metal panels creatively arranged. This one looks only one step above typical.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SolipsismX
I thought this would also be mostly automated but if they are building a parking garage there must be a fair amount of employees, unless there is an odd law that requires parking based on sqft.
Automated? You must be thinking of some other pending facility.
The Americas Operations Center will be used for accounting, HR, sales, marketing and finance operations for both North and South America.
Apple has also had a fairly large Customer Service Call Center in Austin for the past twenty years. I believe that this campus will be used to expand that facility as well.
There could be several thousand new jobs created eventually between 2015 and 2021. (As the article noted, there are more buildings planned, with four times the space.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by SolipsismX
I thought this would also be mostly automated but if they are building a parking garage there must be a fair amount of employees, unless there is an odd law that requires parking based on sqft.
Everything is far apart in Texas, so you need to drive in general. It also gets hotter than a mofo, so you want to park in the shade. Also a garage is more environmentally friendly than open concrete parking lots. Most companies are too cheap for a garage though. Great for Apple and their employees.