The San Jose city council has approved a development agreement for Apple that will give the company fifteen years to build "a maximum of 4.15 million square feet of space" within an 86 acre piece of land in north San Jose (via Silicon Valley Business Journal). Apple is still ironing out plans on exactly what it wants to do with the massive site, according to Kristina Raspe, senior director of real estate and development for the company.
"The opportunity to purchase this site came very quickly to Apple," Raspe said, in response to a question from councilman Donald Rocha about the site's ultimate use. "It was something we jumped on without a firm plan. We’re still studying the site to determine the best use for us. At this point, it looks like it will be office and R&D."
As Raspe pointed out, the San Jose campus will most likely be the focus of a headquarters for R&D and more company offices. Before today's agreement, the 4.15 million square feet of space was slowly purchased or leased by Apple over the past year. This week's development approval by the San Jose city council groups all of the company's previous acquisitions into one large project for the company to move forward with.
San Jose mayor Sam Liccardo called the agreement "a long time coming" during the council meeting, given Apple's long-awaited entry into the Silicon Valley city. As pointed out by the Silicon Valley Business Journal, if solely built up as office space the new campus could house 16,000 employees for the company. When completed, it will be larger than the existing Infinite Loop campus, as well as the "Campus 2" location currently under construction in Cupertino.
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