14 DAY TRIAL // After Apple officially opened the doors to its new spaceship campus called Apple Park, Microsoft is also planning a major expansion of its Redmond headquarters that would create room for 8,000 more workers.
In an announcement today, Microsoft revealed that instead of moving to a new location, it just wants to use the existing space “at home” and expand with new buildings, improved transportation, and facilities that would benefit not only company employees, but also neighbors.
First and foremost, Microsoft says that its 125 buildings accommodating 48,000 workers will enter a major transformation plan that will have 12 of them demolished, and then rebuilt from the ground-up in order to offer more modern facilities and more room for new employees. Other new buildings will be constructed as well, with the Redmond headquarters to count a total of 131 structures when the expansion is complete.
To cost billions of dollars
The software giant says it’ll invest no less than $150 million in transportation improvements, public spaces, sports fields, and green space, adding that its new HQ would include a two-acre open plaza with enough space for 12,000 visitors. They would be provided with access to sports facilities, retail space, and running and walking trails.
“While we transform our workspace inside, we will renovate the exterior to create more opportunities to exercise, play and connect with nature for the people who work at Microsoft and those who live nearby,” Microsoft explains.
The firm says the new headquarters, which will take five to seven years to complete, will be built for pedestrians and bikes, so all parking spaces will be moved underground.
“We will also build off the region’s smart investments in transportation by constructing a foot- and cyclist-only bridge across WA-520 that will connect both sides of our campus and tie into the future Redmond Technology Transit Station where Link Light Rail will arrive in 2023,” the company adds.
Work on Microsoft’s overhauled campus will kick off the next fall and will obviously cost billions of dollars, with the company not saying how much the investment could end up costing just yet.
