Apple plans to put 2,000 employees in two towers just blocks away from Amazon’s HQ
Apple is significantly expanding its presence in Seattle, announcing plans Monday to open a 650,000-square-foot office in the city this year, and expanding its headcount in the city to 2,000 employees over the next five years. Two hundred of those employees will be added by the end of the year.
Apple VP of Global Real Estate and Facilities Kristina Raspe announced the expansion at a press conference held by Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan on Monday.
“Under this plan, Seattle will become a key engineering hub for Apple, with new positions distributed across many specialty engineering fields including hardware, software technologies, and services,” Raspe said. “We’re actively recruiting for many of our teams including engineering positions for iCloud.”
The conference was held at 333 Dexter, the development that will become Apple new Seattle office. The property was rumored to become a Seattle office for a tech company, according to GeekWire. Facebook and Amazon were thrown around as potential occupants, according to The Seattle Times. The location neighbors Amazon’s headquarters in the South Lake Union neighborhood of Seattle.
The 333 Dexter property measures at 635,000-square-feet of space according to Kilroy Realty’s press release— Raspe announced 650,000-square-feet during the press conference, a figure that likely includes what Kilroy categorizes as retail and outdoor space — over two, 12-story towers. The towers are LEED platinum certified for sustainability. According to Raspe, the towers will be powered by 100% renewable energy. Apple’s office buildings will be just 500 yards from Seattle’s Space Needle.
In December 2018, Apple announced that it would be building a $1 billion campus in Austin, Texas with room for 15,000 staff. In the same press release, the company focused on Seattle, pledging to build a new site and reach 1,000 total employees in the city before 2022.
