Apple CEO Tim Cook and a rendering of Apple’s Austin Campus (Getty, Apple)
Of the many tech giants making big moves in Central Texas, Apple has been particularly tight-lipped about its big Austin office project.
While the company is still not commenting on the expansion timeline, the Austin Business Journal reports that Apple has filed construction documents with several updates.
The most recent filing, “Capstone Phase Two,” names three projects: AC03, AC08 and G2. Upon completion, which is set for 2025, they’re expected to cost approximately $279 million. Apple’s filing put the construction start date around February of next year.
AC03 is described as a 369,000-square-foot building with five levels and an estimated cost of $100 million. AC08 — the priciest of the three at $118 million — will be a 299,000-square-foot building with at least two floors, according to the documents. HKS Architects is attached as the designer for both buildings. For parking, there’s G2, a 1.2 million-square-foot garage with room for 3,500 cars. The estimated cost of the nine-level garage is $61 million, with KAI Design as the designer.
The iPhone maker’s master-plan — announced December 2018 — will eventually encompass 3 million square feet and include 12 office and amenity buildings, parking garages, a central utility plant and a daycare facility.
Apple already has 7,000 employees in Austin. The initial phase of the proposed campus has room for 5,000 employees. However, the company has said it could eventually be home to 15,000 workers when finished — which would make it the largest private-sector employer in Austin, surpassing Dell Technologies and the H-E-B grocery chain.
In July, the Austin City Council approved the annexation of 52.6 acres at the eastern and southern edges of Apple’s campus. The decision was handed down a month after the company told ABJ there were no immediate plans to develop the annexed land. City documents state that the land — previously zoned for pasture land and agriculture uses — “will be part of an expansion of (Apple’s) campus,” but did not go into detail about what the expansion details or timeline.
— Maddy Sperling
