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It’s been a long time coming, but Apple is finally making significant strides in its plans to invest more than $1 billion in North Carolina. With over half of that staggering investment dedicated to a cutting-edge engineering and research center in the bustling Research Triangle area of Raleigh and Durham, the tech giant has recently filed development plans for the initial phase with local authorities.
According to the Triangle Business Journal, the first phase will encompass a sprawling 41-acre portion of Research Triangle Park. This ambitious undertaking will feature six buildings, along with a spacious parking garage, resulting in an impressive 700,000 square feet of office space and an additional 190,000 square feet of accessory space. To accommodate the influx of employees, nearly 3,000 parking spaces will be made available.
The first phase will boast three office buildings, with the largest one occupying an expansive 242,000 square feet, while the remaining two will measure just over 230,000 square feet each. Each of these three structures is estimated to reach a height of 73 feet, ensuring a striking presence within the campus.
Complementing these office buildings will be three smaller accessory buildings, seamlessly integrated with a dedicated parking garage. Although construction dates have yet to be disclosed, Apple has already commenced initial site preparations and is actively pursuing the necessary approvals. With the wheels set in motion, it’s only a matter of time before tangible progress becomes visible.
While the initial phase covers an impressive 41 acres, it’s worth noting that Apple owns a vast total of 281 acres at the site. And the field plans hint at future phases that will undoubtedly expand the scope and ambition of this already monumental project.
In its initial announcement regarding the North Carolina investment, Apple had confidently declared its intention to create a minimum of 3,000 new jobs, primarily in the fields of machine learning, artificial intelligence, software engineering, and other groundbreaking disciplines. Furthermore, these sought-after positions are projected to offer average salaries approaching a staggering $200,000.
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Once the Research Triangle Park campus reaches its full potential, it is poised to become one of Apple’s largest employment centers in the United States, rivaling the company’s iconic Silicon Valley headquarters and its sizeable Austin, Texas campus, which is also undergoing significant investments and expansions. Other notable Apple hubs in the country include Southern California, the Seattle area, and New York City.
Even before the construction of its grand campus in Research Triangle Park, Apple has been actively increasing its presence in the region. The company has secured temporary space in a three-building complex in the nearby town of Cary, previously occupied by insurance giant MetLife.
Capitalizing on the surge in remote work, MetLife was able to consolidate its operations into two buildings, paving the way for Apple to swoop in and take over the vacant third building. As Apple’s own campus is still several years away from completion, the company is also exploring additional temporary space options in the area.