I know that area well! I worked for 10 years just East of Golf and Higgins, on Golf.
I then worked in the Loop.
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Apple to Refurbish Subway Station Adjacent to Future Chicago Store
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I know that area well! I worked for 10 years just East of Golf and Higgins, on Golf.
I then worked in the Loop.
Well if you add it up, it's actually closer to 4Mil, but yeah free rent for 10 years when the store will do 2Mil a year is a no brainer for Apple.
The street looks a bit shabby... Where's the road guys to fix it... ?
Street needs some patching up... and opposite a Verizon outlet
Street View
It looks like a rundown version of Taupo City.
Do you live near a major metropolitan area? They have quite a few stores in most of them and there are Apple departments in many Best Buy's. There are actually eight stores in the Chicago area currently. The Halsted/Clybourn one will make seven.
The store is replacing an old BP station that has been fully torn down, with underground tanks excavated, etc. The space between where the store is going up and the L station isn't huge, but enough for a nice amount of greenery and several benches. The open space for the park is to the west of the store, east of the L station. The small size is a plus for wifi: the entire park should be within range of the Apple store's network.
Ask and ye shall receive, or just click on the original article: http://www.ifoapplestore.com/db/2009/10/07/chicago-store-steel-is-up-its-squares-ville/
Again, check the link for the layout and construction pictures.
That "bleak-loking block" is actually really nice brick. Check the IFO article which broke this story for my full prediction on the renovations.
Well kinda, yah, Obama had a major fundraiser here in the spring that involved him taking Marine One to Lincoln Park and then motorcade to a place several blocks east of the Apple Store and CTA station on North Avenue.
Tried to make a joke, but you're more correct than you know. The San Francisco store redid the BART entrance there with spiffy aluminum and glass.
YES! FINALLY someone who actually read the article or just read it at least marginally well. The CTA station is not going anywhere. $2 million will not pay for demolition and construction of the whole station. What it will pay for will be the removal of the bus turnaround and presumable the concrete wall and metal fence and then landscaping the area outside the doors through to the back of the newly constructed Apple store. I also expect a revamped interior layout and probably new lighting and security features, but no ADA improvements or physical layouts. I could see the replacement of those small, individual and probably Very inefficient windows with large panes like those at Apple's own stores which would keep the store more consistently temperature controlled and provide tons more natural light during the day. Expect the Pizza Ria Zia to stay. It's a source of income, so why would the CTA get rid of it? The design for the station MAY include some modern materials like stainless steel to replace the little amount of wooden siding currently on the building, but remember Apple is PAYING for the design, not actually designing it themselves. And BTW, I live 5 Red Line stops north and some of the pictures on IFO are from me.
-Brian
From the picture posted, it looks like a dump, making the whole area look trashy, street included. Apple had to make a deal to clean up the thing; they couldn't put their nice new mod looking store next to a trashing downtown bus stop. If they do the park right, they could make it a WiFi Amusement Park! Opens up lots of interesting ideas for outdoor computing tied to the Store front.
This is definitely a great location to plunk down another store. Kudos to Apple for the fix up. Can't wait to see how it turns out. 
I saw this in the Sun Times earlier today and wondered when it would get posted here.
Sun Times Article
I saw this in the Sun Times earlier today and wondered when it would get posted here.
Sun Times Article
Exactly!! Read my write-up of the area here (even though it sounds like you already now it equally well): http://www.ifoapplestore.com/stores/halsted_study.pdf
Ah, WHAT?! You think Apple just BOUGHT a CTA station to turn into a "store"??? Apple is leasing the property on Halsted from M Development LLC. Why on earth would you think Apple was renovating and moving into a 1940's L stop? According to IFO, the lease details from M Development are: "local sources say its $700,000 a year. The public documents state that Apple has an initial 10-year lease, with the option to extend it by two, five-year terms." $700,000 and month is a LOT more than $20,833, but they're actually paying for a store with that 700K and are donating that $4M for a park in BETWEEN the CTA L stop and the Apple store.
Again, $700,000 month is the rent. We have no idea what the terms are for the ~$4M for the design and renovation. Apple has plastered Red Line trains and subway stations with iPod ads in the past, so it wouldn't be unheard of if this station seemed to have a perpetual Apple presence, but don't expect it to be comped to them.
-Brian
Can see your point; but we don't yet know what Apple will do to update the station. Having been to Chicago and using the L and busses only... some stations are in need of repair. Hopefully Apple will keep the flavor of the original station and not just gut it and start over.
Good call on sharing the link.
Love Chicago here as well. Thought of moving there a couple years back - but the economy started to tank, and after last winter just here in the DC area - I found out that I was not as hardy as I once was with cold weather.
I am sure you are right on the accounting factor.
As to an Exxon Bart station. As we are building finally the Metro Rail extension to Dulles Airport. I would love nothing more than to see SAIC, Sprint, Orcal. VW, and so many others pony up so that we don't have to pay increased tolls on the Dulles Toll Road.
Wait, isn't this the President's home ground? I guess I assumed it was already paridise.
great location
This is one of best subway locations in Chicago period. I don't think half these people posting know the area at all, This area is not in boys town and has no bad influence from caprini greene, Check out real estate prices, retail and Steppenwolf Theatre you will be impressed. Nice job appl.
Ps I have worked on halsted a blk away from this subway station for a year
This is one of best subway locations in Chicago period. I don't think half these people posting know the area at all, This area is not in boys town and has no bad influence from caprini greene, Check out real estate prices, retail and Steppenwolf Theatre you will be impressed. Nice job appl.
Ps I have worked on halsted a blk away from this subway station for a year
I wish this would happen more--companies helping the city out by makig their store's surrounding areas better. It's a win-win. As long as they don't name it iStation S.
While I'm glad this is being done I feel the article can be misleading for non-Chicagoans. Relative to other stations, this station is most certainly not a dump. I live on the North side (Sheridan red line) and the stations up here are atrocious. All I'm saying is, while it's great that they are doing this (I am all for improvement), the repair itself may be overhyped. Despite what the pictures may make you think....underground in the actual station it's not that bad.
That being said, we have a Target that will be opening up in 2010 in my area and a bunch of the neighbors (myself included) just e-mailed this article to Target with the hopes that they'll renovate our station.
That being said, we have a Target that will be opening up in 2010 in my area and a bunch of the neighbors (myself included) just e-mailed this article to Target with the hopes that they'll renovate our station.
Its Cabrini-Green. The 'bad influence' in the neighborhood are the hipsters and yuppies.
lmfao Except when it's Microsoft wanting to do what Gateway did first by opening up retail stores to "beautify" a neighbourhood... aka get rich w/ a tax write-off.
I mean it just for play and keeping you fanboys humble. lol
Rosh, you and I must live pretty close then, and you are right about North and Clybourn. The platforms aren't "narrow" like everyone is saying and the station-house has some nice character actually. It's my favorite stop just because of how unique it is. Sure it can use some attention, but which stops not brand new couldn't use some new windows, flooring and paint? I can see that new Aldi from my place and thus am only about 200' from that Target. The Wilson stop and ones north have received some attention from the CTA including new windbreaks, lighting, and overhauled canopies with all fresh paint. Wilson is even going to get an elevator in the coming year or two. Sheridan probably won't get much attention for many years until they completely overhaul it to make it ADA accessible, no small feat as those platforms are even narrower than Fullerton and Belmont were, and look what they needed to do at both those stops.
-Brian
Ever hear of cooperate social responsibility? If not, you should look it up.How is that capitalism?!
You can thank the stringent planning laws in the UK for the fact that it wasn't just more glass and concrete. Even so, Apple managed to gut the insides.
I'd appreciate it if you could elaborate on this point-of-view more. Chicago's roads are constantly jammed as it is, so we have an efficiency issue. Aside from the occasional toll bridge, roads aren't profitable. Second, any time the CTA makes a penny in profit, people flip out. I've heard the CTA is legally barred from making a profit, but I can't cite that so we don't need to count it as a legal point. Third, public work pays less than private work, so in the end you've got less-skilled people needing to budget better for a best-case scenario of break-even. How's that supposed to work?
There are a host of factors that aren't directly measurable. No public transit means more cars and more money wasted in expanded roads, which directly creates more sprawl. In my experience, sprawl makes shopping and retail commerce generally a planned event. When I lived in suburbia, I needed a destination to go to the store. When I get off the 'L', I often just pop into stores that look interesting on my way home or to work. It also means more parking garages, which do create some revenue for a city, but the $3 the city collects in tax is likely not close to collecting property and sales tax from a business occupying the same area.
The 'L' moves 535,722 people on an average weekday (transfers factored out). Saturdays and Sundays (total) board 617,504 people on average. The Red Line is the line with the most riders (weekday: 50,042; weekend: 72,570). As of August 2009 at the North/Clyborn station, an 11.2% increase in weekday traffic has been reported over the last year. The average weekday now sees 4,242 people boarding, with Saturday and Sunday seeing 4,656 and 3,450 respectively.
I think the additional tax revenues a city enjoys by making sure public transit exists is justification for the subsidy of the system alone. Of course, I also live in the city and strongly prefer urbanization. I also think Apple got an insanely good deal that will prove quite profitable with direct access to the 29,316 weekly riders who get on at North/Clyborn already. I think we're all confident an Apple store will make this station a destination for more people (and thus, measurable boarding point).
Citation: CTA Ridership Reports
If you consider a 25-minute train ride and 7-minute bus ride home ground. Personally, I wouldn't call something over 30 minutes away my home ground.