“A company connected to Apple has no intention of offloading a swath of land it’s recently acquired near Research Triangle Park,” Lauren Ohnesorge writes for Triangle Business Journal. “That’s as Apple – at least right now – has no immediate plans to build on the 281-acre site, and is instead watching North Carolina’s political landscape as it expands in Texas, insiders say.”
“As North Carolina officials keep classifying Apple as an active project for the region, public records show the state – at least when it comes to the trophy prize of the $1 billion project announced in Austin – may not have been a real contender in the effort’s final months,” Ohnesorge writes. “In November 2018, officials in Williamson County, Texas, must have known they were close to the prize. Notes scribbled onto a legal pad during a closed session and provided to Triangle Business Journal at the behest of a public records request detail the potential, possibly up to 11,000 jobs from Apple – already among the area’s largest employers… In the closed-session boardroom in Texas, officials there knew something those in North Carolina didn’t. Under competition, the scrawl reads ‘competing w/ Columbus, OH.'”
“Some have theorized that politics could have shifted Apple’s interest away from the state months before its announcement – a claim that – while supported by some sources, has been denied by some state officials,” Ohnesorge writes. “That’s as a source connected to local government affairs told TBJ that both Apple CEO Tim Cook and COO Jeff Williams had been closely following developments on Jones Street, and had been concerned about the state’s perception as discriminatory toward the LGBTQ community.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Build a third major campus some day. Sell it. The possibilities are endless.
SEE ALSO:
Tax incentives for Apple could double if North Austin corporate campus lives up to billion-dollar billing – January 17, 2019
Apple’s gets $41 million in incentives for new Austin campus – December 18, 2018
Apple shows how to select new tech hub locations with class – December 14, 2018
What Apple’s new U.S. job additions tell us about their future product plans – December 14, 2018
Apple to build new $1 billion, 133-acre campus in Austin and add jobs across America – December 13, 2018
“a claim that – while supported by some sources, has been denied by some state officials”
Of course officials are not going to admit political bumbling played a role..
WTH? What does LGBTQ have to do with it? This is crazy, alphabet people suck!
Discriminating against people because of legal activities they engage in is a big problem.
It is a particularly big problem for a company with decades-deep roots in the Bay Area that must be sure that all its existing employees will not face discrimination if they transfer to North Carolina. A selling point for the Triangle area is great basketball… assuming that all of Apple’s employees can safely and legally use the restroom in public buildings.
Apple appears to be in the lead in looking at the political “environment” of a location under consideration. I live in Oklahoma and the state routinely ends at around the bottom in important factors like Education and Health Care. The state also passed a law that individuals who want to put solar panels or wind generators on their homes have to pay a monthly fee to the power company for “lost income”.
Do you really believe that Apple is going to seriously consider a state like Oklahoma.