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Apple’s futuristic new headquarters in Cupertino, CA just cleared another major hurdle. July 22nd marked the end of a 45-day public comment period on the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for the Apple Campus 2. The next step is to incorporate the public comments and responses into the Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) for submission to the City of Cupertino’s Planning Commission. The FEIR and the Planning Commission’s comments will then be forwarded to the City Council. While no further comments to the DEIR will be accepted, the public will still have a chance to make comments at upcoming meetings of the Planning Commission and City Council. The DEIR attracted 348 public comments. As noted on our parent website (www.constructionscience.com) the original bids were $2B over the $3B budget envisioned by Apple. Assuming the project scope is reduced to stay within budget the Apple Campus 2 will still be one of the largest private projects in state history.

Bloomberg BusinessWeek reported on April 4th that cost estimates for Apple’s new futuristic headquarters in Cupertino, CA have ballooned from $3 Billion to $5 Billion since plans were first revealed by the late Steve Jobs in 2011.

Officially designated as Apple Campus 2, construction was supposed to have started in 2012. Apple submitted revised construction drawings to the City of Cupertino in November of 2012. Review of the new drawings was expected to take several months. This image, posted on the city’s website, is simply breathtaking!

Apple has never released any budget estimates to the public and Businessweek offers few clues as to why cost estimates would have skyrocketed. The footprint of the project has increased from 50 acres to 175 acres, but this has been known since 2006. However, there are a few major projects in the Bay Area currently competing for resources: both Facebook and Google are building new headquarters and construction of a new stadium for the San Francisco 49ers in Santa Clara is just now winding down.

Ironically, for a company headquartered on One Infinite Loop, Apple may be learning firsthand that resources for construction projects are rather finite. Right now in San Francisco, Local 6 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) is reporting 100% employment. Projects in San Francisco are importing electricians from other cities. As noted in my previous post, construction employment has increased in California the past two years – especially in the Bay Area.

The good news? Apple is committed to using Primavera P6 on the Apple Campus 2 project. All contractors are required to utilize this software. As Primavera schedulers we are happy to see P6 being used for such a high-profile project.