Apple offers closer look at Campus 2 as the City of Cupertino ponders diversification

Apple's spaceship-like Campus 2 project was shown from a new angle Wednesday as the company allowed members of the media on-site, while Cupertino leaders have begun to reconsider ways to diversify the city's Apple-dominated tax base.

The new photos, published by Bay Area outlet KQED, provide a sense of scale for the project. Workers shown in what will eventually be a parking garage below the massive ring of offices give an idea of how Apple will manage to shoehorn 12,000 employees into the 4-story structure.

As AppleInsider showed with exclusive aerial footage last week, the steel skeleton of the building itself has begun to rise. Construction is also underway on the underground amphitheater, which Apple is expected to use for media briefings —  events it currently holds at venues around San Francisco, and occasionally at its Infinite Loop headquarters —  and other happenings.

Progress on Campus 2's underground amphitheater. | Source: KQED

According to KQED, some 95 percent of the material from the abandoned Hewlett-Packard campus that occupied the site before has been recycled and will be used in the construction of Apple's headquarters.

"What Apple inherited on the property was several older buildings, all of which were broken down and deconstructed," KQED's Amy Standen said. "Much of the material from those old buildings was recycled into new building material to make the new campus, according to Apple."

Even as construction continues, Cupertino leaders are debating the best way to take advantage of Apple's expanding presence in the city. Apple already occupies approximately 60 percent of Cupertino's commercial real estate, according to the Mercury News, and the company's 16,000 employees represent 40 percent of Cupertino's jobs.

Some developers have already approached the city about expansion. At least two new hotels are in the offing, as is an overhaul of the existing Vallco shoppig mall. In addition, the city council has begun to consider raising development limits on commercial space and hotels.

A long-term plan is expected to be adopted in March. While some are concerned with the pace of development, Stanford economics professor Roger Noll told the publication that Apple's values line up well with Cupertino's.

"This is not a bad marriage," he said. "Cupertino is a very high-end suburb, not a cross-section of society. I suspect that's what Apple is going to want it to continue to be."