You can do a lot with 4.15 million square feet.
Or at least that’s what Apple might be up to given its inquiry into a campus north of San Jose. The new structure, if completed, would be larger than the “spaceship” campus Apple has underway.
The draft agreement between Apple Inc. and the city of San Jose, which is not yet completed, will come before the city’s Planning Commission later this month, officials said. It would lock in development rights — and expectations for both sides — for the next 15 years in an area that sprawls across 86 acres north of Highway 101 across from the Mineta San Jose International Airport.
The area Apple has been focused on now sprawls over roughly 86 acres in north San Jose. The sites would be subject to a development agreement between Apple and the city, spelling out how the land could sprout buildings. But the deal does not signify an actual project.
This new deal comes after a series of high-profile leases and sales on Apple’s part that included both existing buildings and bare land.
To be sure, a development agreement is not an actual project, and does not guarantee all of that space will get built. Apple hasn’t said what it is eyeing the sites for, and it has not yet submitted a formal development proposal. Such deals are standard procedure for large real estate projects, giving applicants certainty for everything from fees to building-height requirements. Cities also like development agreements because they spell out the obligations for the project applicant.
A brief summary of the agreement shows that it would cover three sites: 28 acres that Apple bought from Ellis Partners this summer for US$165.8 million; a 43-acre grass field it acquired from Lowe Enterprises for US$138 million; and a 16.5-acre parcel currently owned by real estate developer Steelwave.
Apple has presently leased a 200,000-square-foot building under construction via Steelwave, but has yet to purchase it. This development deal indicates that the company might finally purchase it somewhere down the line.
All of the sites have existing development capacity which, when added up, is not far off from the 4.15 million-square-foot figure identified in the development agreement. But the agreement suggests Apple is thinking about building out the site holistically, though the phasing of what would get built when is not yet clear.
It’s unclear as to when Apple might sign off on the deal, what the new expansions would be used for or when ground would be broken on new sites.
Apple has declined to comment.
Via the Silicon Valley Business Journal