The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple, Alphabet, and other car manufacturers are looking for “large expanses of real estate” in the Bay Area for their long-rumoured Project Titan.
Actually, the information was leaked by Victor Coleman, chief executive of Hudson Properties Inc. – one of the largest landlords in the area – during the company’s earnings call with financial analysts. Coleman tried to argue that demand is still high in Silicon Valley in response to analysts’ concern over the health of the tech sector, which currently accounts for a large percentage of the landlord’s income.
“We’re seeing the Toyotas of the world, the Teslas of the world, BMWs, Mercedes. Ford now is out in the marketplace looking for space,” he said on the landlord’s quarterly investor call. “I haven’t even mentioned the 400,000 square feet that Google’s looking to take down and the 800,000 square feet that Apple’s looking to take down for their autonomous cars as well.”
While the size Coleman references is fairly big, it is worth noting that the purpose of the real estate Apple is looking for may not be a car production plant. To put that into perspective: Tesla’s Freemont, California-based factory, for example, is 5.3 million square-feet, so compare that to the 800,000 square feet Apple is seeking. By the way, even Apple’s next headquarters measures 2.8 million square feet.
In addition to the above, fueling more speculation about Project Titan, the Wall Street Journal, citing its own sources, adds that Apple is looking to expand its Apple Car team, which had 600 employees last year.
