Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is building a $161 million theater at its new campus, as revealed in building permits obtained by BuildZoom (via Re/code). The theater will surely give Apple a venue over which it will have full control, and it can be used for future product launches.
Fitness facility to cost $74 million
Also the company is working on building a $74 million fitness facility at the ring-shaped campus. The fitness center could come in handy for giving perks to the company’s employees. The auditorium will be used by the company to host special events such as launching next generation Apple products.
Previously, the project plans detailed the auditorium as a 120,000 square-foot underground “assembly space” with a seating capacity of 1,000, a large lobby, restrooms, and back-of-the-house facilities, including a catering kitchen.
The Cupertino Calif.-based company will enjoy greater control over its events along with maximum control over preparations and rehearsals. At present, the company hosts all its events in the existing Town Hall, but an amount of $161 million will surely give enough space for Apple to hold much larger events. Other purposes for which the hall can be used for is movie or TV screenings.
Apple builds greenest campus ever
Apple Campus 2 will be spacious enough to accommodate 12,000 employees. A circular spaceship is located toward the east end of Apple’s current headquarters in Cupertino. The new campus has been in the news since Apple co-founder Steve Jobs offered the plan for the futuristic Apple Campus 2 to the Cupertino City Council in 2011. The campus got final approval from the City of Cupertino in November last year.
The iPhone maker’s newest campus will be the greenest in the world. To create security, the company is surrounding the campus with lush green walls and sending security people after drone pilots. Only last month, the company published an aerial shot of the campus, and the latest update shows that pouring the foundation has been done for the main circular building, and Apple has started building the actual structure.
Apple started the project last year and is expecting to conclude it by 2016. There has been no comment from Apple yet on the findings.
