Apple Park : Inside The World's Most Expensive Land-Based Sapceship

Is it a donut? Is it spaceship? Perhaps, but really, it’s Apple Park – now officially one of the most expensive buildings on the planet.

- Benjamin Kerry & Gavin Lenaghan

A SIGNPOST TO FUTURE INNOVATIONS IN OUR OWN HOMES

Following an official, but challenging assessment by Santa Clara County, the campus in Cupertino has now been valued at an astonishing $4.17 billion.

Covering no fewer than 2.8 million square feet of land, Apple Park itself is worth $3.6 billion, with all of the computers, furniture, and custom made equipment and features across the site making up the rest of the value (hence, the challenge the assessors faced in coming up with a precise valuation).

Apple Park, which took nearly four years to build and plenty more to plan, cost around $5 billion to construct. To put that in perspective, the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, cost $1.5 billion to reach to the skies.

As per Californian law, Apple is now required to pay approximately 1% in property tax per annum, putting the annual cost of residence at Apple Park in the region of $40 million. And while some skeptics have argued that this cost still feels relatively insufficient given Apple’s overall revenue, there is no doubt that the campus is a marvel of architectural design.

THE HISTORY OF APPLE PARK

Way back in 2006, Steve Jobs announced that Apple was planning to build a second campus, then simply known as ‘Apple Campus 2’. Unfortunately, Jobs didn’t live to see construction begin, although four months before his death, he announced that Cupertino City Council had details of the architectural design.