CEO Tim Cook says new Apple campus delayed until 2016

Earlier this week I wrote about the sudden burst of distinctive new campuses being proposed for Silicon Valley. But while building your own architectural wonderland has now officially become a trend here, it was Apple’s proposed spaceship campus that kicked it off.

Alas, getting the thing off the ground is taking longer than expected. During Apple’s recent annual shareholder meeting, Chief Executive Tim Cook told the audience that the building wouldn’t be ready by 2015, and that now the company was looking at 2016 to occupy it.

“It is taking a little longer,” Cook said, in response to a question from a shareholder.

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Cook didn’t give any specific reason for the delay, though he did say the company was continuing to fine-tune its plans. He said the company is taking the same meticulous approach to the planning that it famously brings to its product design.

“We think this will be the most collaborative environment anywhere,” Cook said.

The latest revised plans were submitted by Apple last November.

The building will cover 175 acres and have 2.8 million square feet that will be the new headquarters for 12,000 Apple employees. The company will keep the current offices at 1 Infinite Loop open as well. Those offices are already bursting at the seams following the company’s fantastic growth over the last decade.

Apple bought the land from Hewlett-Packard, and Cook noted that 80% of the site was covered in concrete and asphalt. Under Apple’s plan, only 20% will be paved, with the rest planted with trees and other greenery.

“It’s going to be green,” Cook said. “It’s going to be like a park. It’s going to be incredible.”

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