Work may be finished by June next year, filings show.
Construction on one of the largest economic development projects in the region is continuing under the supervision of the area’s top commercial construction company.
Colorado-based Hensel Phelps Construction Co. is listed in documents filed with the city of Austin and the state as general contractor on an estimated $400 million worth of work at Apple Inc.‘s new campus at 6900 W. Parmer Lane, and it also has its name plastered on the half-dozen cranes that have risen at the site. The company ranks No. 1 on the Austin Business Journal’s latest list of commercial builders with $1.03 billion in 2023 construction billings.
The ongoing work at the new campus involves construction of the following: a 200,000-square-foot, four-story building; a 300,000-square-foot building with multiple stories; a 370,000-square-foot building with five stories; and a 1.2 million-square-foot parking garage. The total cost of the work is estimated in the documents at upwards of $400 million, with all of it expected to be completed by June next year. It’s important to note that TDLR filings are preliminary and are subject to change.
The purpose of what Hensel Phelps is building for Apple is unclear. Neither Hensel Phelps nor Apple representatives responded to requests for comment. HKS Inc. and KAI Design are listed as the design firms. HKS declined to comment, and KAI Design did not respond to requests for comment.
Apple has completed pieces of the new campus that it began building in 2019 — pegged as a $1 billion investment at the time — and an untold number of employees are working from there. Officials initially said the new 133-acre facility could grow to house up to 15,000 employees.
Apple also has filed documents for a multimillion-dollar renovation at its older campus a few miles down Parmer Lane, and earlier this year it appeared to lease additional space in the Westlake area on the south side of Austin. It all indicates that Apple, which reports 10,000 Austin-area employees, intends to add to its headcount at a time when other tech titans are scaling back here or just holding the line.
The work is yet another big project for Hensel Phelps, which boasts 227 local employees. The company is the general contractor on an expansion project at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport that will add about 82,000 square feet to the west end of the existing terminal for new gates, lounges, offices and more. Hensel Phelps also was general contractor on two other significant projects in the past year that won big at the ABJ’s recent 2024 Commercial Real Estate Awards: the new Travis County Civil and Family Courts Facility, which was recognized as project of the year, and Round Rock’s new public library, which won public sector project of the year.
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Written by Justin Sayers for the Austin Business Journal
