The wisps of iCloud over Mesa are filled with solid silver linings. More than 300 additional workers – up to as many as 500, will be added to the 150 Apple executive-level positions planned for the tech giant's Mesa command center.
Apple CFO Luca Maestri and other top executives told Mesa Mayor John Giles in Cupertino, California, last week the now firm plans for its East Valley facility are better news than the speculation earlier this year. The 1.2 million-square-foot Apple Mesa data center will be led by a small contingent of Apple executives moving to the Silicon Desert from Silicon Valley. The remaining executive, leadership and engineering staff will be hired from local talent.
The additional 300- to 500-person workforce will start as contract workers for Apple, and virtually all are expected to be local hires. Giles said that Apple executives reminded him that the first round of hiring in Austin totaled 150 people.
"There could be more hires," said Giles. "They told me that Apple has a history of expanding where it has a major footprint and Austin now has more than 6,000 workers,"
"Is the third time the charm?" asked Site Selection magazine Editor-in-Chief Mark Arend in a post going up this week about Phoenix-East Valley. "It sure lookes that way for the 1.3 million-square-foot facility now occupied by Apple Computer."
When Gov. Doug Ducey announced the deal to bring the command center to the Valley, he said Apple committed to more than $2.2 billion in capital spending over 10 years. Apple upgraded that commitment to Mayor Giles.
"They plan more than $2 billion in capital investment over five years," he said. "Apple said they are making a 30-year commitment to Mesa."
The command center was built to be a manufacturing facility for First Solar, but other than housing members of the firm’s engineering staff, it was never put into production. Apple bought the facility in 2013 and leased it to New Hampshire-based GT Advanced Technologies to manufacture sapphire glass. More than 700 workers, mostly contract employees, were to have been employed. The GTAT venture collapsed late in 2014, leaving hundreds out of work and millions of dollars owed disclosed during bankruptcy proceedings.
In February, the state, Mesa and Apple fast-tracked a deal that includes millions of dollars in tax breaks and credits, even though the Apple facility appeared to be a data center with a fancy name. The Business Journal was first to report that the "command center" moniker held greater promise, but the initial return on investment for Arizona was significantly less than would have been reaped from a successful GT Advanced Technologies.
One source of speculation has been what happens in the remaining space in the Mesa facility. Apple is expected to use less than half the square footage for the command center.
"Apple didn’t disclose their plans for the remaining portion of the command center, but they are looking at its use," said Giles.
In an interview earlier this year, Giles said, "Just having Apple’s name on the building is a game changer."
Economic development consultants interviewed for other stories since February have all mentioned that the Apple nameplate on the east Mesa building carries a big cachet in the world of corporate relocations. One said that the Valley is "being watched to see what happens with Apple. It could be a very important selling point, even if it’s not a lot of hires."
