Tech giant Oracle Corp. announced Dec. 22 it plans to build a campus in downtown Austin in the Lakeshore development area. The company also plans to buy adjacent housing and offer it to employees so they can live affordably near the new site. Oracle has offices in Northwest Austin at 9600 N. MoPac, 5300 Riata Park Court and 7700 W. Parmer Lane in Williamson County. Officials at Oracle said they do not yet know when construction of the 560,000-square-foot downtown complex will begin. The company said it will expand its team in Austin by more than 50 percent once the campus is complete. According to the California-based corporation, many of the jobs will be in the company’s cloud sales organization, Oracle Direct. The company plans to recruit recent university graduates and professionals in the early stages of their career. “Austin was a natural choice for Oracle to invest and grow,” said Scott Armour, senior vice president of Oracle Direct, in a news release. “We already have a high-performing employee base in the region, and the surrounding technology community is teeming with creative and innovative thinkers. Our state-of-the-art campus will be designed to inspire, support and attract top talent, with a special focus on the needs of millennials.” Oracle plans to collaborate with local firms to design and build the campus in phases. During Phase 1, a building complex and parking garage will be constructed downtown on the waterfront of Lady Bird Lake. An adjacent 295-unit apartment building was purchased for employee housing options to support a work-life balance, according to Oracle. “What Oracle is doing in Austin reinforces what I’m talking about when I say that great cities do big things, especially in the technology sector,” Austin Mayor Steve Adler said in a news release. “With this significant investment, Oracle demonstrates that it believes in Austin and its future, and it’s serious about creating fantastic job opportunities in our community.” “We’re positioning the state of Texas to become a home for innovation and technology,” Gov. Greg Abbott said in a news release. “Thanks to our skilled workforce, combined with our low-tax and low-regulation environment, one of the largest tech companies in the world has chosen to expand in Austin.”