Apple Park is one of the most impressive corporate headquarters in the world — and that don’t come cheap.
In fact, it’s one of the most valuable buildings on Earth. A recent assessment for property tax by Santa Clara County lists Apple’s circular HQ at $3.6 billion. This is based on a detailed appraisal of the building. Including its contents, it’s valued at $4.17 billion.
That latter figure includes computers, furniture (such as the hand-selected fancy chairs picked by Jony Ive), and farm equipment to take care of the property’s grounds.
Property taxes of 1% mean that Apple likely pays around $40 million annually. (That’s a whole lot of iPhones before it even covers the cost of keeping Apple Park street legal.) However, Apple could potentially appeal the valuation in an effort to lower its tax bill. This is something that it has previously done for other buildings.
The company was Santa Clara County’s largest property taxpayer for the 2017-18 fiscal year. In total, it paid $56 million in taxes.
One of the world’s most valuable buildings
As the SF Chronicle notes:
“Apple Park is among the world’s dozen most expensive buildings, despite its relatively modest four-story height.
America’s tallest spire, the 1,776-foot One World Trade Center in New York, cost $3.9 billion to build, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the building, and is 3.5 million square feet. Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands resort reportedly topped $5 billion in costs, while Finland’s Olkiluoto 3 nuclear reactor exceeded $6 billion.”
The article also has one other intriguing tidbit. The Salesforce Tower, San Francisco’s tallest building, was valued at just half the amount of Apple Park. Despite being stretched over 57 floors instead of, well, four, it also has just half the office space.
