Apple Signs Deal for 23,000 Square-Foot Grand Central Terminal Store

[MacRumors]

The New York Post reports that Apple and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) have signed a deal to bring a 23,000 square-foot Apple retail store to Manhattan's historic Grand Central Terminal. The initial ten-year deal will reportedly see Apple paying $800,000 per year in rent, and potential extensions after the ten-year period would see the annual rent increase to over $1 million.

Tech giant Apple has inked a 10-year deal with the MTA to open its largest store in the world in Grand Central Terminal.

The 23,000-square-foot store will take up Grand Central's north and northeast balconies, displacing Charlie Palmer's Metrazur restaurant, according to MTA documents.

Apple will initially pay rent of $800,000 a year, nearly half a million more than Metrazur paid.

The MTA's financial committee is said to be set to add the final seal of approval to the deal today.

The report's claim regarding the store being Apple's largest in the world is a bit fuzzy, as Apple's Regent Street store in London is said to check in at approximately 25,000 square feet. It is a bit difficult to make strict comparisons, however, as different reports use differing standards for reporting square footage. Some reports may refer to gross square footage while others may use the smaller assignable square footage, while some reports may count only publicly-accessible retail floor space in contrast to others that may include back-of-house support space or even regional corporate offices occasionally located on-site at flagship retail store locations.

Article Link: Apple Signs Deal for 23,000 Square-Foot Grand Central Terminal Store

 

[GaryMumford]

Now that's what you call a store

 

[dmbfrontier]

Its coming!

This morning I noticed that the restaurant was shut down. There is a sign that says "Pardon the mess. We are working on a new shopping experience" or something of that nature. Wasn't able to take pic, but when the Apple signs show up, I will!

 

[toddybody]

Im most excited for the Vatican Apple Store.

 

[baryon]

The name "Grand Central" goes well with other Apple technologies like "Grand Central Dispatch", "Terminal" and "Mission Control". There should also be a store called "Launchpad"!

 

[applefan289]

Boo! More glass cubes please.

 

[ChrisTX]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_4 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8K2 Safari/6533.18.5)

Apple needs to expand their retail space in the Galleria Mall in Houston. Went their over the weekend and that place was a zoo and definitely smaller then I remember.

 

[beatzfreak]

Not sure that space is larger than Apple's 14th street store in NYC. Me thinks the NY Post is wrong, but it wouldn't be the first time.

 

[miknos]

800k a year? I know there's some factors that take into account like brand exposure but isn't that too much? Obviously a study was made and probably is money well spend.

 

[shartypants]

Would love to see it when its done!

 

[Gasu E.]

800k a year? I know there's some factors that take into account like brand exposure but isn't that too much? Obviously a study was made and probably is money well spend.

According to terminal management, about 750,000 people pass through Grand Central Terminal in an average day. Average income of commuters is over $95K/yr.

 

[silentnite]

Oh no! Look out NY more Grand Central traffic headed your way.

 

[JTToft]

The report's claim regarding the store being Apple's largest in the world is a bit fuzzy, as Apple's Regent Street store in London is said to check in at approximately 25,000 square feet.

- Shouldn't that be "as Apple's Covent Garden store in London is said to check in at..."?
I do believe the Covent Garden store is the largest Apple Store in the world.

 

[TwoSyllables]

800k a year? I know there's some factors that take into account like brand exposure but isn't that too much? Obviously a study was made and probably is money well spend.

$800k a year or roughly $66k a month for 23,000 square feet sounds like a steal considering a 2-bedroom apartment in Manhattan can run you upwards of $15,000/month.

 

[crisss1205]

800k a year? I know there's some factors that take into account like brand exposure but isn't that too much? Obviously a study was made and probably is money well spend.

Hell no! That is about $3.30 a square foot. Some Mnahattan retail can be as much as $50 a square foot. At $800K a year that is a robbery! (Good for Apple)

 

[fabian9]

So it'll be ready just in time for the christmas shopping period. Perfect timing!

 

[Rocketman]

Some simple math.

$800,000/yr for 10 years = $8m = 66,667/mo (oops)
$5,000,000 lease break fee for prior tennant = /10 years/12 months = $41,667/mo
23,000 square feet, $108,334/mo $4.71/sf/mo

I think local retail here is about $2/sf/mo and the last shop I rented was $0.65/sf/mo. Good deal.

Rocketman

 

[jclardy]

Will they give them free WiFi?

 

[Laird Knox]

Apple needs to expand their retail space in the Galleria Mall in Houston. Went their over the weekend and that place was a zoo and definitely smaller then I remember.

We have three Apple stores within five miles of each other (all on the same road). Last week I had to visit all three to find a camera connection kit and all three stores were packed. (I would get to the store before my call to check stock was even answered.)

Oh no! Look out NY more Grand Central traffic headed your way.

I doubt the store will cause a noticeable increase in GCT traffic. Even if 10,000 people a day came just for the store it would be a drop in Grand Central's foot traffic bucket.

 

[jinjo235]

800k a year? I know there's some factors that take into account like brand exposure but isn't that too much? Obviously a study was made and probably is money well spend.

Trust me, this store will probably make $1 million/week. And if you think I'm lying, look at Apple's latest quarterly earnings then, look at home much the retail sector brought in, then divide that among the number of currently open Apple Stores. Ya, easily $1 million/week. And after rent, paying employees, etc., this could easily be the most profitable Apple retail store yet.

 

[stridemat]

Pah! When is an Apple store ever that empty.

 

[Doctor Q]

Now that all of the brick and mortar bookstores are going out of business, this will be best place in town to relax and surf the web.

Who knows, perhaps you might even buy stuff from Apple now and then.

 

[iPadPublisher]

I have no doubts this store will make a ton of money. Kind of like an airport location, they'll make a killing with the traffic in there. How convenient on your daily grind to swing in, get the replacement headphones you wanted, or finally check out an iPad, etc. This is a largely car-less group of people going through here -- putting a store right in their daily path exposes many many more people to the products.

 

[mutantteenager]

These stores could be Apple's undoing....