As 2017 comes to an end, we decided to round up some of our favorite studies and reports from the past year. We use public data as well as data from BuildZoom’s national building permit database to better understand the construction market, and this year our work fell into two broad categories: Research concerning urban growth and housing affordability, and how they … [Read more...]
What it Takes to Build Apple Park: The Ultimate Cost Guide
Few construction projects have garnered as much excitement as Apple's new multi-billion dollar headquarters in Cupertino. Also known as Apple Campus 2 and aptly nicknamed "The Spaceship" for its futuristic design, the behemoth project - first announced in 2011 by Steve Jobs in what would be his last public appearance - is finally reaching its much-anticipated … [Read more...]
$23.6 Million on Construction for Apple’s New San Francisco Store
Apple’s new store in San Francisco’s Union Square is now open. Fifteen years after opening its first store, Apple has rebooted its store design. The new Apple store boasts a 50 foot green wall, 42-foot tall sliding glass doors, a 6k video wall, and uses 100% renewable energy. But here is some information not found in the press release and instead uncovered from Buildzoom’s … [Read more...]
Uber SF vs. Uber Oakland
In September 2014 Uber bought 1455 and 1515 Third St in San Francisco. Almost exactly a year later Uber bought 1955 Broadway Oakland. From the current Uber headquarters an Uber costs $9 and takes 13 minutes to get to the San Francisco location and $21 and 21 minutes to the Oakland Location. In 2013 we covered Uber's 12 million dollar renovation of 1455 Market Street. Uber … [Read more...]
Building Facebook’s Fort Worth Data Center
In 2016, Facebook will likely surpass 1.6 billion monthly active users, and with masses of users, comes masses of data. Construction of Facebook's fourth U.S. data center is well underway at the aptly named "4500 Like Way" in Fort Worth, Texas. Permit information reveals that the development began back in May 2015 under the alias "Project Ernst". The data center aims to be 100% … [Read more...]