Apple has offices located around the Bay Area, in Cupertino, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, and San Jose, but for the first time, the company is planning to expand into San Francisco. According to the San Francisco Business Times, Apple has leased 76,000 square feet of office space in the popular South of Market neighborhood (SoMa) in San Francisco.
Many startups and major tech companies are located in San Francisco, in the very neighborhood Apple is moving into. It is not clear what Apple plans to do with the office space, but Beats Music leases office space in San Francisco, so it's possible Apple will house its Apple Music employees in the city.
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Though Apple's offices have long been located in the South Bay, many employees live in the city and face a daily hour-long commute by car or Apple bus, so San Francisco office space for at least some of the commuters will likely be welcome news. The ability to work in San Francisco could also help Apple recruit key employees that are reluctant to work outside of the city.
In the building Apple plans to sublease through 2022, employees will share office space with CBS Interactive, the main tenant. The 76,000 square foot space could accommodate an estimated 400 to 500 employees. It's not known what Apple is paying to rent the space, but SoMa is one of San Francisco's most expensive areas due to its popularity with tech companies. On average, rent in SoMa costs $66 per square foot, so Apple is likely paying millions of dollars per year to occupy the space.
News of Apple's San Francisco lease comes shortly after news that the company leased 300,000 square feet of space in North San Jose. Apple also recently expanded into Seattle, leasing office space in a popular downtown area.
Top Rated Comments
(View all)I can't believe Apple are expanding when there are features they could be improving on their products! :mad: As we know, there is only one person at Apple who does everything.
Too true.Taylor Swift is really working overtime.
This move seems to be geared towards keeping up Apple's image as much as convenience for those that live in SF. The only convenience I can image is for those at Apple that setup the annual SF events like WWDC, and others.
According to a 2013 report cited by San Francisco Business Times, 14 percent of Apple employees live in SF. That's a pretty good chunk.Frankly I seriously doubt that there's many Apple employees that actually live in one of the most expensive, small, heavily crowded, major metro cities in all of the USA. Once a resident myself, right out of college, I enjoyed SF prior to the high tech invasion which drove the already high prices to astronomical highs that are causing major issues today.
With it's astronomical real estate prices for eighty to one hundred year old homes, the few people I know that grew up in SF, fled (like I did) to the peninsula as adults where for the same amount or less they could have three times the square footage, a far newer if not brand new home with ample parking, and still have the high end image.
It will be interesting if Apple keeps it's operations there secret, or mentions just what departments they have moved there. I'd venture a guess if they comment it will be one of their carefully crafted statements just to get the press off their back. In many ways it's a surprise that they failed to do this before the ultra staggering lease factors hit.
If you thought the commute from SF to Cupertino was bad, try the commute from Syria to Cupertino.
Siri: "Where would you like to go"You: "Syria"
Siri: "Siri, er...Please would you make up your mind!"
You: "Blistering barnacles!"
Living and working in an area that occasionally does have earthquakes isn't a death wish. Quite a few people do it. ;)
Easy to say when a big one hasn't happened in so many years.