Apple Working to Lease 700,000-800,000 Square Feet of New Office Space in Sunnyvale

While Apple moves forward on plans for its new 2.8 million square foot corporate campus in Cupertino, the company continues to grow with the success of its products. Apple's interim space needs led the company to lease 373,000 square feet in Cupertino six months ago, and soon after expand its New York City presence to over 50,000 square feet.

The San Jose Mercury News now reports that Apple is working on deals to lease between 700,000 and 800,000 square feet of additional space in Sunnyvale, California, adjacent to the company's hometown of Cupertino.

According to the report, Apple has already signed a lease for a four-building complex in Sunnyvale totaling 215,000 square feet. The company is said to be preparing move into the new facility, which is approximately seven miles from Apple's main corporate campus, by the end of this quarter.

The company has also signed a lease for over 100,000 square feet in another two-building complex. Estimates suggest that Apple could house about 1,300 employees over the two sites, but could push that Sunnyvale population to over 3,000 if it can track down the additional space it is looking for.

"Apple seems to be gobbling up everything they can," said Chad Leiker, a vice president with Kidder Mathews, a realty firm. "They are taking a ton of space."

Apple has long been overflowing its main Cupertino campus, purchasing and leasing additional space surrounding the campus and elsewhere. The company's plans for its new major campus are intended to allow it to consolidate many of those space needs currently served by leased space into a single company-owned location. But with construction on the new campus yet to get underway, Apple will need to continue leasing new space over the next several years in order to handle its rapidly expanding workforce.