Apple Campus 2 Lead Builder Abandons the “Spaceship”

Negotiations between Apple and the leading builders of the Apple Campus 2, a joint venture of DPR Construction Inc. and Skanka USA, have come to a dead end, so the project will be taken over by another builder, possibly Rudolph & Sletten, reports the Silicon Valley Business Journal (via Fortune).

In May, sources speaking with the newspaper’s Nathan Donato-Weinstein whispered that the relationship between Apple and the lead contractor had soured. Now, it’s official: An internal email sent to Skanka employees reveals that the joint venture will transition to a completely new project in the next few weeks.

The email from Skanska USA Chief Executive Richard Cavallaro said that the contractors “and our confidential client were unable to come to an agreement during negotiations for the revised scope of work for its research and development campus in California.” (Skanska and DPR are not allowed to say they are working for Apple, though their involvement is well documented, based on city permit records.)

At this moment it is unclear what went wrong during the negotiations. Despite being an ambitious project and one of the most expensive private office developments, with costs running into billions, there had been rapid progress despite some challenges.

Now, considering the size of the project, a contractor shakeup comes at a price: It could delay the schedule and also raise the costs. But that’s not a thing to worry about, since we are talking about the biggest tech company in the world by market capitalization.