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Apple Store

May 11, 2019

7C05E822-EEBF-47C9-8470-9BEDF2481FE0.jpeg
 
Some details:

Opens in October.

Downsized from the original plan but still considerably larger than the existing store. More than double the size. Still, it won’t be considered a flagship. This leads me to infer that other downtown Toronto store(s) have been confirmed. The One is all but sealed and there are negotiations happening about bringing Apple to The Well. It’ll be wider than it is deep, which will resolve the circulation problem of the current store. It’ll have illuminated ceiling tiles, giving the impression of a much higher ceiling than it really has. Limestone walls and pillars accented with wood inset shelves.

It’ll look a lot like this:
7CA47F8E-8C82-4D25-8E94-D6D55C9E3281.jpeg


There’s a long term plan to open the store to the outside via James Street into a new square coming to Old a City Hall when the courts vacate in 2023 and it becomes a Toronto museum. But the store as it will be in October doesn’t open to the outside. The back is being built for storage with knockout walls that can be reconfigured in 5 years.
 
Some details:

Opens in October.

Downsized from the original plan but still considerably larger than the existing store. More than double the size. Still, it won’t be considered a flagship. This leads me to infer that other downtown Toronto store(s) have been confirmed. The One is all but sealed and there are negotiations happening about bringing Apple to The Well. It’ll be wider than it is deep, which will resolve the circulation problem of the current store. It’ll have illuminated ceiling tiles, giving the impression of a much higher ceiling than it really has. Limestone walls and pillars accented with wood inset shelves.

It’ll look a lot like this:
View attachment 197567

There’s a long term plan to open the store to the outside via James Street into a new square coming to Old a City Hall when the courts vacate in 2023 and it becomes a Toronto museum. But the store as it will be in October doesn’t open to the outside. The back is being built for storage with knockout walls that can be reconfigured in 5 years.
Excited for the upgrade, shame it was downsized. What was the original plan and what caused the change?
 
Excited for the upgrade, shame it was downsized. What was the original plan and what caused the change?

It wasn’t downsized by much. I think that they opted for a slightly smaller store when they confirmed that they were building another downtown store and this one didn’t have to carry the entire load of downtown demand.
 
Anything larger will be a big bonus until they can finally open at The One. I love going to Apple Stores but not the the Eaton Centre location currently, it is always a zoo in there.
 
The additional space would have been used for a “Boardroom” and other spaces that flagships have. I suspect this omission all but confirms that Apple at The One is coming and will have these amenities.

With your view, you’ll be the first to confirm that. We’ll be able to spot some telltale features in the construction that will come as they build the -1 below ground level and then as the main ground level space is constructed. This, even without the wall framing that will occur after the structure us up and activity inside is no longer seen.
 
Sorry, but there is no question whatsoever about Apple going into The One. Despite the lack of a confirmation by Apple, who never confirm these things this far out, we know it's Apple, we've known for a long time.

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The additional space would have been used for a “Boardroom” and other spaces that flagships have. I suspect this omission all but confirms that Apple at The One is coming and will have these amenities.

With your view, you’ll be the first to confirm that. We’ll be able to spot some telltale features in the construction that will come as they build the -1 below ground level and then as the main ground level space is constructed. This, even without the wall framing that will occur after the structure us up and activity inside is no longer seen.

I will certainly continue to keep an eye on the construction going on at the One @MetroMan
 
There's nothing really much to see down there for a while - there may be a depression on the slab for the pit of the elevator that goes down from one level of the store to the concourse level by that's really it.

Screen-Shot-2019-08-09-at-2-29-49-PM.png


It will be more pronounced when the sloped steel beams are installed at GF level.

Screen-Shot-2019-08-09-at-2-31-48-PM.png
 
Sorry, but there is no question whatsoever about Apple going into The One. Despite the lack of a confirmation by Apple, who never confirm these things this far out, we know it's Apple, we've known for a long time.

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You’re saying that to the person who discovered both of the big confirmations of Apple at The One.

Regardless, Apple has been known to pull out of a store even after having designed it and even purchased the property or signed a lease. So The One isn’t really guaranteed until Apple takes possession of the raw space and starts building it.

At this point, it’s very likely given that The One is now under construction and on a schedule which satisfies Apple’s near term needs. The fact that Apple chose a slightly smaller Eaton Centre layout lacking flagship features, indicates that they have plans for a flagship elsewhere downtown, pointing to The One as more of a certainty.

But still, I’m being cautious until I’ve heard from a contact within Apple that it’s a done deal or we see telltale Apple store architectural/engineering features in The One’s construction . Until then, not even a confirmation from the developer is enough, specially since the developer has an inherent conflict of interest in having investors believing that a top tier retail tenant is on board.
 
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Sorry @MetroMan, but you're the self-promoted discoverer, despite which we'd seen those notations on the plans on March 21, 2017, months earlier.

Here's the ⌘I info for the architectural drawings file along with a piece of page 13 where the slip-up was made:
AppleTheOne.jpg


Before that though, I talked to Sam Mizrahi about the store, March 11, 2015, the evening he announced the project in the Park Plaza ballroom, at the end of the event when things were being packed up, because the very first renderings released that day of the Bloor-Yonge corner showed people in the store behind the glass standing around Apple-style tables looking down at products, while Apple-style shelving could be seen in the background of the rendering. With Foster also being Apple's chief architect worldwide, I asked Mizrahi whether he had a contract with a certain electronics manufacturer, to which he replied that he couldn't possibly answer that question. Based on the non-disclosure agreements that Apple includes in its contracts, case pretty much closed as of day One.

Of course, since then, the project has been redesigned and delayed, and no doubt the wait has been disappointing to everyone, but there is no way in hell that Apple would ever give up their spot at the corner of Yonge and Bloor in a building designed by their worldwide chief architect. Not a chance. So, yes, Apple would have to agreed to amend the terms of the contract re: timelines, but what are they going to do, let Samsung or one of the other copycat rip-off second hand junk pedlars of the world sweep in and take this prominent spot? They've been waiting for this for years, don't kid yourself.

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