Apple Computer will open its third Manhattan retail store at SL Green Realty Corp.'s retail joint venture at West 34th Street, according to Reuters.
According to the report, the deal for the Apple Store west of Fifth Avenue began with discussions of a 50-by-100 square-foot floor plan but the store will end up being 50 to 75 feet by 100 feet.
The Mac maker's quest for its third Manhattan hot spot has been met with its share of road bumps. Almost a year ago to the day, it abandoned plans for a glass enclosed two-story retail store in Manhattan's Flatiron District after being unable to come to terms with a local landmarks preservation commission.
Apple returned to the drawing board and in Dec. of 2005 was reported to have net-leased an entire 30,000-foot five-story building opposite the Empire State Building at 21 W. 34th St from Jeff Sutton of Wharton Realty and his partner, SL Green Realty Trust. A back-and-forth process then ensued, with Apple reportedly testing the limits of Manhattan's building code before recently finalizing plans to proceed with renovations.
It's unclear from the latest report when Apple plans to open the new store. However, a timeframe around the second half of 2007 would seem most likely given the company's previous retail initiatives in Manhattan.
Apple currently operates two other retail outfits on the island, each of which are approximately 20,000 square feet in size: an underground Fifth Avenue location that opened in 2006 beneath a 32-foot glass cube entranceway and a trendy two-story shop that opened in Soho in 2002.
34 Comments
Maybe this one will float above ground?
Maybe this one will float above ground?
why not put a mini-store one in every starbucks?
or convert a subway train. that way they could be everywhere!
there are already two apple stores in manhattan... let's put a store in park slope brooklyn. i live there so i might be slightly biased.
Is a 3rd one in Manhattan really necessary? I think Jobs is just bored and wants to design a new building.
I swear, these guys are building a circle around me. every time I see a new Mac store popping up I get all excited that it may be closer and less of a walk to my house. Alas, this one is no closer then either of the other two. They need to build one in Union Square!!!