Courtesy photo

Steve Jobs addressing the Cupertino City Council

Steve Jobs vision for a massive, architecturally-distingushed headquarters in Cupertino was laid out for the public last week, and there is every reason to think that the project, likely to become a symbol of Silicon Valley, will go forward. But Jobs has been thinking about this for a long time, according to a great story by Julia Prodis Sulek in the San Jose Mercury News, and was moving forward on with an idea for a campus in San Jose, possibly with I.M. Pei as the designer, back in 1983. The company even purchased the land.

Jobs was forced out of Apple in 1985 and the land was later sold. Tom McEnery, then mayor of San Jose, can't help but think of what might have been:

 

"What sticks in my mind is he clearly saw the potential in San Jose," McEnery said. "We could have a great set of campuses, a la Stanford Industrial Park."

Jobs, who had already hired I.M. Pei to renovate a New York City apartment for him, even suggested that "I could see myself" buying an old warehouse in downtown San Jose, renovating it and living in it. If only, thought the mayor whose name now adorns the downtown convention center.