每日跟讀#514: Apple’s Eye-Catching New Home Disrupts Silicon Valley

Things change when a spaceship comes to town.

Tourists stroll by, whipping out their iPhones to get a photo. New businesses move in. And real estate prices go up even more.

當太空船來到城裡，許多事情都變了。

遊客在這裡流連，迅速拿出iPhone拍照。新商家進駐。房地產價格漲得更高。

Apple’s new home in Cupertino — the centerpiece being a $5 billion, four-story, 2.8 million-square-foot ring that can be seen from space and that locals call the spaceship — is still getting some final touches, and employees have just started to trickle in. The full squadron, about 12,000 people, will arrive in several months.

But the development of the headquarters, a 175-acre area officially called Apple Park, has already helped transform the surrounding area.

蘋果公司在加州古柏迪諾市的新家——核心是耗資50億美元（合台幣約1500億元），面積280萬平方英尺（約7萬9000坪）的4層樓環狀建物，能從太空中看到，當地人稱為太空船——仍處在最後裝修階段，員工才剛開始陸續遷入。總計1萬2000人將在數月內入駐。

不過，蘋果新總部修建已推動周邊地區的變化。新總部占地175英畝（約21萬坪），正式名稱是蘋果園區。

In Sunnyvale, a town just across the street, 95 development projects are in the planning stages. The city manager, Deanna J. Santana, said she had never seen such action before. In Cupertino, a Main Street Cupertino living and dining complex opened in early 2016. This downtown enclave includes the Lofts, a 120-unit apartment community opening this fall; small shops; and numerous restaurants and cafes.

Other local businesses are also gearing up in anticipation. A Residence Inn at Main Street Cupertino, expected to open in September, has been slightly customized to meet the needs of Apple employees. Guests will have access to Macs and high-speed internet connections, said Mark Lynn, a partner with Sand Hill Hotel Management, which operates the hotel and consulted with Apple about what its employees need at a hotel.

在蘋果園區對街的桑尼維爾市，有95個開發案正規劃中。市經理迪安娜．桑塔納說，她未曾見過這樣的發展。在古柏迪諾，居住和餐飲綜合建築「古柏迪諾大街」在2016年初開幕。這個商業區包括有120戶公寓的社區Lofts，將於今秋推出；還有小商店、大量的餐廳和咖啡館。

其他本地企業也滿懷期待在做準備。古柏迪諾大街一間長住型飯店預計9月開幕，飯店稍微調整過，以滿足蘋果員工的需求。經營飯店的沙丘飯店管理公司向蘋果諮詢過其員工對飯店有什麼需求，公司合夥人林恩說，飯店客人有麥金塔電腦和高速網路可用。

“All the things we have, lined up with what they needed,” Lynn said. “They will represent a large part of our business.”

Tech companies are nothing new for Cupertino. Apple has called the city home for decades, and Hewlett-Packard had a campus in Apple’s new spot, employing 9,000 people. The surrounding towns have been remade as well in the last decade, as giant tech companies have transformed Silicon Valley’s real estate into some of the most expensive in the country.

林恩說：「我們所有事物都配合蘋果員工的需求，他們會在我們業務中占很大比重。」

對古柏迪諾而言，科技公司並不新鮮。蘋果把這個城市當成家已有數十年，而蘋果新總部所在地曾是惠普一個雇用9000人的園區。過去10年，古柏迪諾周遭城鎮的風貌也翻新了，因為科技巨頭已使矽谷轉變為全美房地產最貴的地方之一。

But city officials and residents say this project is like nothing they’ve seen before. It is even bringing tourists.

Onlookers snap pictures of the spaceship from the streets. TV helicopters circle above. Amateur photographers ask residents if they can stand on driveways to operate their drones, hoping to get a closer look at Apple Park.

“I just say, ‘Hey, go ahead,'” said Ron Nielsen, who lives in Birdland, a Sunnyvale neighborhood across the street from the spaceship. “Why not?”

但城市官員和居民說，蘋果園區跟他們看過的其他開發案不一樣。園區甚至帶來了遊客。

遊客在街頭拍攝太空船的照片。電視台的直升機在它上方盤旋。業餘攝影師問居民可否站在他們的私家車道上操作無人機，以便更近一點看看蘋果園區。

尼爾森住在桑尼維爾市伯德蘭德地區，就在太空船對街，他說：「我就說，『好啊，行』，為什麼不可以呢？」

Source: https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0067/315730/web/

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