Apple reportedly leases massive office space under development in Haifa
Hebrew press says Apple is the tech firm with whom Bayside Land Corp has signed accord; lease will start in 3Q 2022, after first stage of project is completed in the business park
Shoshanna Solomon was The Times of Israel's Startups and Business reporter
US tech giant Apple has signed a contract to lease office space in a new project currently under construction in a tech and business park in Haifa, Hebrew press reported on Wednesday.
The story was first reported by Calcalist, after real estate developer Bayside Land Corp. said in a filing to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange on Tuesday that a subsidiary has reached a rental agreement with a “leading international tech firm” for the rental of an area of 28,000 square meters (301,390 sq. ft.) of space above ground and 620 underground parking spaces at the Matam Hi-Tech and Business Park in Haifa.
According to the lease accord, the tech firm will rent all of the first stage of the development in the new project being built at the technology park for a period of seven years, for a total of NIS 30 million ($8.9 million) a year, with an option to prolong the contract. The lease will start with the completion of the first stage of the project, in the third quarter of 2022, the filing said.
A spokesman for Apple in Israel declined to comment.
Apple started its activities in Israel after it acquired the Israeli startup Anobit for some $390 million in 2012. The US firm now has R&D centers in Herzliya and Haifa, with a total of some 1,000 employees.
The lease agreement was signed as tech firms worldwide are coming to terms with the fact that even after the end of the coronavirus pandemic, some sort of work-from-home model will continue to exist.
Check Point Software Technologies, for example, an Israeli cybersecurity company, has asked the public to come up with designs for the office of the future in which a hybrid workplace will become the norm.
