The Cupertino Courier

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New campus for Apple is great news for Cupertino

Staid council meeting comes alive on expansion news

By HUGH BIGGAR

Steve Jobs, co-founder and CEO of Apple Computer, made a surprise appearance at Cupertino's city council meeting April 18 and made an equally surprising announcement: Apple Computer is planning to build a second campus in Cupertino.

"At Apple our business has nearly tripled in the last five to six years, from $6 billion in sales to $20 billion in sales," Jobs told the city council during the public comment portion of the meeting. His blockbuster announcement was made to a nearly empty room, as the next most exciting thing on the agenda dealt with bingo permits, and his appearance had not been published on the official agenda.

Fueled in part by the popularity of iPod technology, the Fortune 500 company has climbed in the rankings of top businesses, rising to 159 this year from 263 in 2005. As a part of that growth, Apple has added employees.

According to Jobs, Apple now plans to build a second campus at Tantau Road, Pruneridge Avenue and Highway 280 to accommodate the growth. The new 50-acre campus is expected to house up to 3,500 employees. Apple bought nine pieces of contiguous land to form the new site.

"We keep getting further and further away from our central campus," Jobs said of Apple's campus growth. Apple's other offices are scattered around Cupertino and will eventually be put on the market.

Apple, Cupertino's largest taxpayer, had looked at sites elsewhere in the Santa Clara Valley because of the high cost of land in the city, but decided tostay close to its original home. Apple moved to De Anza Boulevard in Cupertino 29 years ago after first operating out of Jobs' parents' garage.

"We found something unexpected," Jobs said of the new property, "and we're delighted to stay in a place we liked."

He said the new campus should be completed by about 2009.

Cupertino officials were also delighted with news.

"They are the number one source of sales tax in Cupertino and this will help us maintain vital public services," Vice-Mayor Kris Wang said at an April 20 press conference at Cupertino City Hall.

"Cupertino is synonymous with Apple and is known world-wide as a high-tech town, so if they moved, that would not have been good," said Councilman Orrin Mahoney,

According to Dave Knapp, Cupertino's city manager, existing office buildings at the new Apple site are to be torn down. He also said the location is already zoned industrial, so the future campus should not be a major burden on city services or traffic.