Apple has asked the city of Cupertino for permission to tear down a vacated restaurant where Steve Jobs used to eat. The company wants to replace the structure at the corner of Alves and Bandley streets to make way for a new employee-only cafeteria tentatively called "Alves Restaurant."
The plans (editor's note: long load time) call for a 21,000-square-foot, two-story restaurant with underground parking.
The main floor will house the actual restaurant, which is quite small: 204 seats. The second floor will house conference space and other uses, according to plans.
Apple has five cafeterias within office buildings as well as other smaller cafes and kiosks. This would be the first free-standing facility and would mostly serve Apple employees from off-campus buildings west of DeAnza Boulevard. The facility will not be open to the public.
“We like to provide a level of security so that people and employees can feel comfortable talking about their business, their research, and whatever project they’re engineering without fear of competition sort of overhearing their conversations,” said Apple’s director of real estate facilities Dan Whisenhunt.
Whisenhunt points out all companies prefer their employees lunch in a private setting. "We have a lot of people working really hard on research and development [and] we need to provide a level of security so employees can talk," Whisenhunt told the Cupertino planning commission.
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Apple says it will need to cut down 27 trees to make way for the building but will replace them with new plantings.
Apple is also planning a massive new campus (dubbed the mothership for its UFO-like appearance) which will feature its own orchards.
Apple has a long history with the location -- Whisenhunt points out employees had eaten at the Japanese restaurant for years, "including Steve".
Below is a screen grab from Google maps that shows what we think is the current structure.
