Apple store pr0n: a peek at the 5-story Manhattan glass cube

There is plenty of empty retail space along the 16th Street Mall here in Denver for Apple to work with.

I don't know if there will be other tenents underground or not. The ifoapplestore.com site lists the expected size as about 21,000 square feet, but the New York Times reported last year that the underground space would total around 25,000 square feet. I guess we'll just have to wait and see when it opens. There will be new retail tenents in the building though, but on the Madison Ave side (a little over 8,000 new square feet). And the FAO Swartz is obviously still there on the 5th Avenue side too so Apple won't be too lonely.

As for the view...I guess they should be glad the developer decided not to go with his original idea of a 40 foot cube.

BTW - Anyone interested in the NY Times article about renovation should search for "Redefining Public Space at the G.M. Building." It ran March 2, 2005 so it's in the paid archives, but if you have access there's some interesting stuff about the zoning loop holes that let them pull this off.

Thanks for the clarification. I have the sense that people are blaming Apple for the glass cube. Any idea how many other retail tenants will be sharing the subterranean space with Apple, or did Apple wind up leasing it all?

I also find it humorous that people are complaining that an empty glass cube is going to blocl a view to Central Park- the plaza is large, the park is huge, and the cube is, er, glass.

Never left an Apple Store empty-handed, eh? Then you've never been to the Soho store, here in NYC. =) Hehe...

Acording to New York Magazine , the Cube belongs to Apple, although that doesn't rule out the fact that it may have been originally conceived by Moed de Armas & Shannon. "Jobs personally designed the 32-foot-by-32-foot box that will mark the stores entrance on the Fifth Avenue plaza." In fact, it was "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," that Apple finally signed the lease.

But if Steve "I-won't-put-a-power-button-anywhere-you'll-ever-find-it-because-it-screws-with-my-aesthetics" Jobs personally designed this cube, paid USD$9 million for it, and refused to sign the lease if he couldn't keep it, then it is *definitely* going to have an Apple logo on it. =)

It does look like a large iPod box. They would be a awesome holiday marketing scheme.

Just to clarify, the glass cube was a part of the renovation plans for the General Motors building before Apple signed on as a tenent. While the Apple store will be an anchor of the new retail space, there won't be a logo on the cube. It's just part of the redesigned plaza, and you can thank the firm Moed de Armas & Shannon for it.

It looks like one giant ipod box to me.

I always thought the cube would be empty and the whole store is underground via a blended in glass staircase www.ifoapplestore.com they should give an insight. Also why arnt there any more pics of it... I want one in my garden

"We are the Borg. Resistance is futile."

It really is, I've never left an Apple Store empty handed.

why whe hell does steve want after the 20 year lease wat can u do with a huge cube...... by the way im anxiously awating mac book