It was back in the summer of last year when we first heard that Apple was planning to open its first major office space in San Francisco – a report today confirmed by Reuters.

Apple prepares to open chic new offices in San Francisco’s high-rent South of Market neighborhood, which has spawned scores of promising startups […] The iPhone maker’s new office will be in about 76,000 square feet of rented space at 235 Second St […] The two floors Apple has leased in a building mostly occupied by CBS Interactive offer abundant open space and exposed ceilings, the preferred tech aesthetic.

The report suggests two possible reasons behind the decision to open the offices some 46 miles north of its Cupertino base …

One theory is simply that Apple needs room to accommodate new hires for two subsidiary companies already based in San Francisco: Beats Music and social media analytics firm Topsy Labs.

But Reuters suggests that it may be driven by a need to work harder to attract younger tech talent.

The move is one sign of the intensifying war for tech talent – and of the overwhelming preference of younger tech workers to live and work in the city, with its vibrant nightlife and public transportation […] With rising competition for talent from a new wave of private companies with sky-high valuations – such as Uber and Airbnb – Apple must do more, recruiters and former employees say.

With some 14% of Apple’s workforce living in the city, one real estate broker says that a lot of workers are likely to want to be able to work there.

Demand for desks there could be intense. After established tech firms open up shop in San Francisco, they often have more workers wanting space there than they can accommodate, said broker John Lewerenz of real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield. Google has struggled to keep workers from swarming its San Francisco office, particularly on Fridays. The company quickly leases additional floors in its main San Francisco building when they are vacated by other tenants, Lewerenz said.

It was Steve Jobs who wanted all of Apple’s employees to be within walking distance, and the new spaceship campus is designed to accommodate even more of them within a single building, but with 14% of Apple’s workforce living in the city, tech talent recruiters say that Apple may need to be more flexible than it has to date.

The space is currently undergoing refurbishment and is expected to open in late summer.

Photos: CBS Interactive

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