Documents detail years of negotiations to get Apple to come to RTP
State leaders offered more than $845 million for Apple to build in North Carolina in exchange for thousands of jobs, investment in public education and infrastructure.
Posted — UpdatedBased on the documents, state leaders offered more than $845 million for Apple to build in North Carolina in exchange for thousands of jobs and investments in public education and infrastructure.
"Apple's presence is going to be huge," said Wake County Commissioner Matt Calabria. "It's going to be an anchor that draws interest from a number of other businesses, top employers and cutting-edge companies from around the country and around the world.
Calabria was a part of the negotiations with Apple that took three years. He was one of the recruiters who played a role in convincing the tech giant to make North Carolina home.
"In the conversations I had with Apple, their conversations were very focused on quality of life, and they were focused on the investments we were making in our community," said Calabria. "We talked about public transportation. We talked a lot about public education, but they wanted to make sure that, when they brought their employees into North Carolina and when they hired employees who were homegrown in North Carolina, that they are folks who are competitive and want to stay in this area and raise families in this area."
The newly released documents from the state Department of Commerce show how the project started and when it could be expected to take shape.
Documents show that Apple is set to bring about 3,000 jobs over 10 years, with the minimum average salary for employees being $187,000.
Apple will also invest $1 billion in the state by Dec. 31, 2031.
Tony Copeland, the former secretary for the Department of Commerce, said the gravitational pull of Apple coming to the Triangle will be "phenomenal."
"It's probably the most important announcement since IBM came here in 1965," said Copeland.
"What ended up coming to Wake County and North Carolina in 2021 was even bigger than what we imagined it would be in 2018. In the long run, we ended up with a better, significant economic development package [and] investment in this area," said Calabria.
Copeland said Apple and state lawmakers helped create the legislation for the incentives.
"The actual incentive package was done through legislation in a transformative project, which was passed by the General Assembly," he said.
The incentives will be paid off over the next 30 years.
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