Apple’s latest Wake County filings show scope of first phase of RTP campus. It’s huge.
New site plans provide a more complete picture of Apple’s forthcoming campus in Research Triangle Park.
According to the plans submitted last month to Wake County, the site will cover 281 acres and include commercial offices, a parking deck, streets and a central utility plant.
Apple initially seeks to construct six buildings on the site, ranging from 12,352 square feet to 241,900 square feet. Accompanying maps illustrated where each building will stand, while a reference in a fire flow analysis report to “future” structures suggests more buildings will be added later.
The $552 million campus will be built on four parcels of undeveloped wooded land near Cary and Morrisville in Wake County’s northwest corner.
In total, Apple has so far sought around 700,000 square feet of office space, an additional 190,000 square feet of support structures, and a parking garage in which the largest floor spans 180,000 square feet.
The Durham engineering firm McAdams prepared the site documents, which were provided to The News & Observer. They included a series of environmental reports on stormwater, downstream impact, erosion control and fire flow as well as commercial site details.
Wake County planning staff must approve the proposed site before the project can proceed.
Apple’s RTP campus timeline
Within a decade, Apple has pledged to employ at least 2,700 people at its campus, a figure that eventually will rise to 3,000. For now, Apple leases an office building on the MetLife campus in Cary.
Apple’s future campus sits below Lake Betz and on either side of N.C. 540. The land is currently owned by a holding company called Acute Investments. Public documents obtained via a records request show Acute has filed for several environmental permits over the past year.
In August 2022, a lawyer from the law firm Parker Poe, which was representing Acute, requested that some of the applications and supporting documents sent to Wake County regarding the Apple site be kept confidential, citing “trade secrets.” The latest trove of released reports includes a heavily redacted 210-page report on Apple’s “Commercial Use” plans.
News of Apple’s latest campus proposal was first reported by the Triangle Business Journal. Apple, known for secrecy, has not publicly shared updates on its RTP campus since the project was first announced in April 2021.
Under Apple’s Job Development Investment Grant agreement with the state, the company can receive more than $845 million in payroll tax relief through the year 2061 if it meets its hiring and investment targets. Those goals begin this year with a minimum of 126 employees.
To avoid default on its grant, Apple does not have to meet its investment commitment to the state — $905.4 million — until the end of 2031. This amount includes both the new Wake County site and the expansion of an Apple data center in Catawba County.
The California-based tech giant is the most valuable company in the world. Apple ended Thursday with a record-high stock price and is currently worth more than $3 trillion.
This story was produced with financial support from a coalition of partners led by Innovate Raleigh as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work.
This story was originally published June 30, 2023 at 12:11 PM with the headline "Apple’s latest Wake County filings show scope of first phase of RTP campus. It’s huge.."
