Apple hasn’t made an official announcement yet, but word is out that the company’s Grand Central Terminal store in New York will open the weekend of December 9. The location is expected to produce high traffic for Apple, and is apparently a bargain for the company, too, since it is paying far less per square foot than other tenants.
According to the New York Post, Apple is paying only US$60 per square foot, where other tenants are paying $200. Apple also won’t be sharing any revenue from the store with its landlord, the Metropolitan Transit Authority.
Artist rendering of Apple’s Grand Central store
“I am surprised they didn’t get some kind of percentage,” commented Robin Abrams, executive vice president at real estate firm Lansco. “You’d think if they were going to do, say, $50 million in sales, the MTA would at least get some percentage of anything over that.”
The MTA, however, seems happy with its arrangement. “We set out to maximize the rent we receive for this space, and we’re thrilled that we were able to more than quadruple what we had been receiving previously,” said MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan.
Apple struck a deal for the Grand Central Terminal location in July, landing 23,000 square feet of space for its new store. That makes the Grand Central location one of Apple’s largest stores in the world once it opens, behind London’s Regent Street location at 25,000 square feet, and Covent Garden at 24,000 square feet.
Apple had previously been rumored to be opening the Grand Central store in time for Black Friday, but Thanksgiving came and went without any announcement. Assuming Apple does open the store next weekend, it’ll still have two weeks to sell iPads, iPhones and Macs ahead of the Christmas holiday.