L.A. City Council signs off on Apple's big campus at Venice and National

Apple continues to clear hurdles in its bid to build a new L.A. office campus across the street from Culver City Station.

On May 10, the Los Angeles City Council voted to move forward with zone changes required to facilitate construction of the new Culver Crossings campus, which would rise from a roughly 4.5-acre property at the southeast corner of Venice and National Boulevards. The site, which is split between Culver City and Los Angeles, will include approximately 536,000 square feet of offices, production spaces, and other associated uses. Plans also call for subterranean parking for more than 1,200 vehicles.

Gensler is designing the project, which will include contemporary four- and five-story buildings, with terrace decks lining the upper floors. No ground-floor commercial space is planned along either street frontage, although large entrances and shuttle drop-off points would be situated along both National and Venice Boulevards, and food service areas for employees would be located within the buildings.

In addition to offices, Apple is planning approximately 58,000 square feet of open space within the interior and around the exterior of the campus, notably a central courtyard and a small, park-like alcove facing Washington Boulevard to the south. The main street frontage along Venice would be flanked by a landscaped promenade, while more modest greenery is slated for National to the west.

Construction of the campus is expected to occur in two phases, according to an environmental study conducted for the project. Work would begin on the Culver City side of the complex first, with that building expected to debut sometime in late 2024. The L.A. building would follow in the second half of 2023, targeting a completion date in 2025 or 2026.

Past reports indicate Apple intends to break ground on the project this year, as indicated in the study.

The new campus will approximately double Apple's footprint in the Los Angeles area, which already consists of more than 500,000 square feet of space in and around Culver City. Most notably, Apple leases a 128,000-square-foot building that it leases in a neighboring property at Washington and National. Through Apple TV+, Apple Music, and other ventures, Apple is expected to grow its office to more than 3,000 employees by the year 2026.

Apple adds to a growing roster of big names which have set up shop near Culver City Station. Across the street, Warner Bros. Discovery leases 240,000 square feet of office space at the $350-million Ivy Station complex, while Amazon has leased more than 600,000 square feet of space between the Culver Studios complex and the neighboring Culver Steps development.

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• Culver Crossings (Urbanize LA)