Apple receives San Jose planning commission approval, snags additional 4.15 million square feet of office space in region

Apple’s real estate expansion through San Jose continues.

On Wednesday, Kristina Raspe, senior director of real estate and development for Apple, stated that the company will be establishing a significant corporate presence” in North San Jose Kristina Raspe, senior director of real estate and development for Apple to the city’s commissioners.

Her comments came just before the the advisory body signed off on a development agreement that allows Apple up to 15 years to build a maximum of 4.15 million square feet of space — ranging from industrial to R&D to office. The agreement is just a prelude to an actual project proposal, but represents a big milestone and potentially the largest corporate expansion in San Jose since Cisco Systems’ go-go growth in the 1990s.

It’s presently unknown as to what Apple intends to do on the 86 acres of land and buildings that sprawl from North First Street to Highway 101 near Charcot Avenue. Apple began acquiring the property last summer. The real estate spree represents Apple’s biggest incursion into San Jose, where it once flirted with building a headquarters in Coyote Valley.

Raspe, who joined Apple from USC in 2013, suggested that it won’t be long before Apple shows its cards.
“Apple is actively working on a plan for the sites, so while there’s no specific development project proposed at this time, these approvals are critical to providing flexibility and certainty as we plan the site to suit our future business needs,” she said.

It also looks like Apple is planning to move workers into the former Atmel headquarters, which it bought for $166 million last September.

“Despite the fact that we don’t have a development plan just yet, we plan to move employees on the site as soon as possible,” Raspe said, adding it could be as early as this July.

At present, Apple currently employs 25,000 people in the Bay Area region in more than 100 buildings.

The most famous of those buildings is under construction in Cupertino: A 2.8 million-square-foot, circular building observers have dubbed “the spaceship.” Apple has also leased a 777,000-square-foot, Space Age-styled project that could start construction this year in Sunnyvale.

While the final details are still in the air, the expansion continues.

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

Via the San Jose Business Journal