Apple to add 7th NYC store next year with new Brooklyn location

Apple has signed a long-term lease at 247 Bedford Ave. — in the trendy Williamsburg neighborhood — according to the New York Post, a location the iPhone maker was first linked to last year. It will be Apple's seventh store in New York, joining five existing outlets in Manhattan and one in Staten Island.

247 Bedford is in the midst of a remodel that will see it emerge with a brick facade and large, arched windows at street level. It is unclear how much Apple will pay for the space, though the building's owners expected to ask for as much as $200 per square foot after purchasing the property for $66 million in 2012.

Rumors that Apple would make the jump over the East River have been around for years. As early as 2007, the company was said to be in negotiations for a spot at The Edge, a then-new condominium project in Williamsburg, though an agreement never materialized.

Apple's retail empire is undergoing a major expansion under new chief Angela Ahrendts, though most of that is overseas, including 25 new stores set to be built in mainland China. The company has long sought to control as much of the customer experience as possible, a goal that will be further enabled by bringing first-party retail stores closer to more consumers.