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Jobs wants 32-foot glass cube following Apple store lease

The long-awaited deal for Apple’s sprawling subterranean store in the GM building was recently finalized—but only after landlord Harry Macklowe promised Steve Jobs he could take his big $9 million glass cube with him at the end of the lease, reports New York Magazine.

According to the report, Jobs personally designed the 32-foot-by-32-foot hollow glass structure that will mark the store’s entrance on the Fifth Avenue plaza. Over the past month, workers could be seen assembling the massive gemstone-esque structure, one narrow glass pane at a time.

“Steve Jobs felt that he created the cube so he owned it,” said Apple broker Robert Futterman, noting that Macklowe wanted it to stay put. “At the eleventh hour, that was the biggest issue.”

The report says that Macklowe aggressively wooed Jobs, flying out to California twice and offering the 24,000-square-foot retail space at well below market rent of $1,000 per square foot.

"At the end of the twenty-year lease, Jobs must replace the cube with a comparable structure before hauling it off."

The GM Building flagship Apple store is now slated to open next spring.


Rendering of 5th Ave. Apple retail store entrance.

33 Comments

e1618978 22 Years · 5921 comments

Quote:
Originally posted by AppleInsider
24,000-square-foot retail space at well below market rent of $1,000 per square foot.

Is that $24 million per month or per year? Regardless, it seems like the $9 million glass cube is pretty insignificant compared to the rental cost - probably won't even be worth removing at the end of 20 years.

zenatek 20 Years · 173 comments

How are they going to stop people from throwing a rock at it?

salmonstk 24 Years · 522 comments

Quote:
Originally posted by zenatek
How are they going to stop people from throwing a rock at it?

I assume its tempered glass.

What does one do with 32x32x32 feet of glass?

aplnub 21 Years · 2385 comments

Quote:
Originally posted by salmonstk


What does one do with 32x32x32 feet of glass?

Find a 1 inch by 1 inch place to stick an "Intel Inside" sticker on it...

kolchak 20 Years · 1376 comments

Commercial rents are X number of dollars per square foot per year, so that's $24 million per year for the Apple Store. $2M per month is pretty hefty, even for Midtown.

The glass doesn't have to be tempered. As long as it's thick and the edges are protected, it'll be fine, although laminated glass would be safer. What keeps people from throwing rocks at all the floor-to-ceiling picture windows all over Manhattan but especially common in Midtown? None of those are tempered, either. Mostly, it's the dearth of rocks in Manhattan. Plus the fact that it's tough to damage thick panes of glass. And security cameras.

I suppose Jobs needed something to replace the Jackling house on his Woodside lot.