“Like just about everyone else in Cupertino, the city’s planning commission really likes the Apple Campus 2 project,” Matt Wilson reports for The San Jose Mercury News. “The commission gave a big thumbs up to the project on Oct. 2, paving the way for a final vote of approval by the Cupertino City Council on Oct. 15.”
“Residents and business leaders filled the city’s council chamber last week to once again hear details about Apple’s eye-catching new home. The planning commission’s meeting came one night after a shared study session with the city council and an overwhelmingly pro-campus audience,” Wilson reports. “Dan Whisenhunt, Apple’s director of real estate and facilities, detailed the project to residents and commissioners during a short presentation. Whisenhunt said the former HP campus, with its “outdated buildings in a sea of asphalt,” will transform into 80 percent green space with plenty of nods to Santa Clara Valley’s agricultural past.”
“Apple employees are currently spread across 80 buildings in the city, with about 3,000 calling the main Infinite Loop campus home. The new campus will see the 16,000 Apple employees in the city grow to 24,000 upon completion, Whisenhunt told the commission,” Wilson reports. “Roughly 300 species of trees will be planted, and many of those trees are already growing in nurseries across California, Whisenhunt added. In total, Apple will remove 4,501 trees and plant 6,200 new ones. Approximately 90 trees will be relocated from the current HP site, including a memorial tree planted years ago to honor an HP employee.”
Wilson reports, “If approvals go smoothly, Whisenhunt told the planning commission that construction could take 32 months, with employees moving into the campus at some point in 2016.”
Read more in the full article here.
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Apple’s ‘Mothership’ finally prepares to land – October 1, 2013
Structures demolished as Apple guts HP campus for ‘Mothership’ landing area – August 15, 2013
Apple promotes ‘Mothership’ campus job creation, economic benefits for Cupertino – June 4, 2013
Apple hires ‘Mothership’ campus architect Norman Foster’s firm to revamp retail stores, sources say – April 10, 2013
Steve Jobs’ ‘Mothership’ Apple campus costs have ballooned from under $3 billion to nearly $5 billion – April 4, 2013
Steve Jobs’ ‘Mothership’ Apple campus delayed until mid-2016 – November 21, 2012
New images of Apple’s ‘Mothership’ campus show amazing detail – September 9, 2012
California Governor Brown fast-tracks Apple’s ‘Mothership’ HQ – June 30, 2012
Apple submits additional info, plans, renderings of Mothership campus in Cupertino (with images) – March 10, 2012
Apple’s Mothership campus solar roof will be among biggest in U.S. – December 7, 2011
Apple submits updated Mothership campus plans to Cupertino, reveals stunning renderings – December 7, 2011
Analyst: 170-acre solar farm, ‘mothership’ campus to push Apple expenses to $8 billion in 2012 – October 31, 2011
New Yorker architecture critic: Apple’s proposed Mothership campus is ‘scary’ and ‘troubling’ – September 27, 2011
Apple’s infinite loop: Mothership campus impressive but enigmatic – September 14, 2011
Architecture critic: Apple’s new mothership campus will be a retrograde cocoon – September 12, 2011
Cupertino Mayor Wong: Apple’s mothership campus ‘definitely not a done deal’ – September 9, 2011
Apple’s mothership campus: What’s the message? – August 22, 2011
City of Cupertino posts further details on Apple mothership campus – August 13, 2011
Apple’s new ‘Mothership’ campus: Full details and gallery – June 16, 2011
Steve Jobs wanted to build mothership campus nearly three decades ago – June 14, 2011
Cupertino mayor: ‘There is no chance we are saying no’ to Apple Mothership (with video) – June 9, 2011
Steve Jobs presents giant 12,000 employee ‘spaceship’ campus to Cupertino City Council (with video) – June 8, 2011
It looks a bit like GCHQ
Yes. The shape seems uh, familiar – I think they call it a circle.
One big difference GCHQ is surrounded by a sea of asphalt. Oh, and one more thing: GCHQ is in the spying business. Last I checked, the future tenant of the Cupertino property is focused on something entirely different…
Yes its a circle, good observation. I did wonder when I’d get a smart ass response. Just for your information the building is also primarily built of glass and steel too and is of a similar shape on top too. In the planning stage it looked very much like Apple’s HQ looks in the above, with trees and parkland all around, but it seems they forgot that they needed parking for the employees….
it’s cool.
Agreed. Why should Apple’s HQ take the form of a typical rectangular box? A doughnut may not be the most efficient shape, but I wholeheartedly applaud Apple’s emphasis on green space and energy efficiency.
How much do you want to bet that the left wing Cupertino city council nixes Apple’s building plans and ices it for the next 5 years due to the need for more environmental impact studies.
The Reds tie you up in red tape to make them feel smug about themselves. See the current deadlock with the Obama administration. Red tape for the sake of red tape, that’s your typical Red.
Got a paranoia/persecution complex? Do you really think that the “Reds” are the primary group focused on obstructing government functions in recent years? #deluded
Looks like a StepFather to me….Very Biased
I lived in a Persecution Complex once. It really sucked.
Ooh, I wonder what the new Samsung headquarters will look like?
The Samsung hq how will be curved glass, worthless, over expensive and filled with androids with no class or design ideas, in other words photocopiers
@boyweho – The image of the new Samsung campus is posted in the article above. They’ve been working really hard on it for “days” and will have theirs open at least a month before the Apple campus and show Apple for what it really is. A shameless copycat. /s
As a company leader, I strongly advocate co-location of employees. Sadly, the proposed Aerobie building is a very expensive way to do a half-assed job at bringing people together.
If I was a city council member, I would strongly prefer the Apple keep its employees spread out all over the city. It spreads commerce.
As an Apple investor, I am disappointed at the wasted money poured into this vain project.
As a forum member here, I preemptively expect the usual emotional fact-free fanboys will trumpet Cook & Co’s every decision as brilliant, totally ignoring the financial and logistic repercussions. One might care about their opinions if they used logic instead of slinging mud. Supporting a $5 billion boondoggle without questioning its functionality is the height of stupid bobblehead behavior.
When you have the world’s largest company headquartered in your city, and they want to build something which will bring more employees into the city (and with them more business and taxes), only the most dense of city councils would reject it.
One reason for this is that the flip side of the coin is that nothing REQUIRES that Apple remain tied to Cupertino; the city needs Apple far more than vice versa. A rejection of this project would be tantamount to a rejection of Apple and would result in one of the following:
1) Apple’s headquarters being moved elsewhere; or
2) A brand-new city council in the next election cycle, which would approve Apple’s building plans.