AMD's Plans Call for ...
By Amy Smith, Fri., Dec. 16, 2005
A new $230 million office campus at Southwest Parkway and West William Cannon Drive in Southwest Austin, known as the Lantana tract. The property is just outside the recharge zone (and within the contributing zone) of the Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer, and within the city's Drinking Water Protection Zone. Construction on the first three of five buildings is expected to start in March 2006, with some 2,000 employees moving to the campus in mid-2007. The complex could eventually house nearly 3,000 workers.
AMD has committed to follow green-building design standards and water-quality control measures. A rainfall collection system will be used to irrigate native landscaping and to supplement water used in the facility's cooling system. AMD and developer Stratus Properties are also establishing a $5 million fund for conservation land acquisition. Environmental consultants are Gail Vittori, co-director of the Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems, and Steve Windhager, director of landscape restoration, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
About 1,000 employees of AMD's less-profitable flash-memory unit – Spansion – will remain at the company's Fab 25 complex on East Ben White (see photo below). Plans call for Spansion to spin off as a public company; an initial public offering was scheduled to take place this week.
The map shows the current AMD site on Ben White, the proposed Lantana site (site preparation, including new road, in progress), and zip code shadings to indicate approximate residential concentrations of current AMD employees. AMD says the new location will mean fewer vehicle trip miles; several executives, including CEO Hector Ruiz, live near the planned site.
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