It’s been more than three years since Apple Inc. announced plans to build a $1 billion office campus in Northwest Austin, and the first phase of the massive project appears nearly complete.
Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) executives have long predicted that the campus would open this year, though it’s unclear when employees will occupy the space given the iPhone maker’s decision to indefinitely delay its return to the office.
The new campus is located off Parmer Lane on the southern edge of Williamson County. It represents an extension of its longtime Travis County campus, about a mile south on Parmer.
At full buildout — construction is planned in five phases — the new campus is expected to be 3 million square feet and include 12 office and amenity buildings, parking structures, a central utility plant and a separate daycare building, according to past Austin Business Journal reporting. A six-story, 75,500-square-foot hotel and a three-story conference center are also planned.
Representatives for Apple were unable to provide further comment by publication time.
The 133-acre campus is land that once belonged to the owners of the Robinson Ranch.
Construction crews broke ground in November 2019, and Kansas City-based JE Dunn Construction Co. is general contractor for the project, according to past ABJ reporting. Officials with JE Dunn declined to comment, citing non-disclosure agreements.
Austin-based Generational Commercial Properties is also involved in the project, and company president Joe Llamas has previously overseen local development for Apple. Llamas did not return requests for comment by publication time.
Other members of Apple’s development team include Studio8 Architects, which designed the campus and its buildings; Nudge Design as landscape architect; Garza EMC as civil engineer; Cardno for structural engineering; and Bay & Associates for mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering, according to past reporting.
Apple has had a presence in Central Texas for roughly three decades. It already has about 7,000 employed in the area, and its new campus will initially accommodate 5,000 additional employees, with the capacity to grow to 15,000. That means Apple could become the largest private-sector employer in the region in the coming years. At last check, H-E-B ranked No. 1 on that list, with a little more than 19,000 local workers.
Jobs created at the new campus will include a broad range of functions including engineering, research and development, operations, finance, sales and customer support.
The Article is from Austin Business Journal, copyright belongs to the owner
