In line with previous rumors, Apple has officially revealed that its massive new retail store inside Manhattan's Grand Central Terminal will be opening on Friday, December 9th. The opening date was made official today with an updated message on the digital signage installed on the construction barrier surrounding the store.
Apple Store, Grand Central. Arriving Friday, December 9.
One MacRumors reader has also provided us with an overhead shot of a portion of the store, revealing that Apple has installed the wood tables where it will display its products for customers to test out. A small portion of the store's Genius Bar can also be seen in the photo.
Meanwhile, in the wake of yesterday's disclosure of Apple's lease terms for the store, which total $60 per square foot and no revenue sharing with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, The New York Post now reports that the State of New York is investigating the deal.
State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has launched an investigation into whether the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) gave Apple overly generous terms on its lease for the shop, which is slated for a splashy opening next week.
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“The article in the New York Post about the MTA’s contract with Apple in Grand Central Terminal is a cause for concern,” DiNapoli said in a statement yesterday. “This is a prime property, and I intend to make sure that the MTA hasn’t given away the store.”
The MTA has pointed out that Apple is paying four times the rent paid by the previous tenant, the restaurant Metrazur, and that Apple is investing in new infrastructure, including an elevator, to support the store.
In addition, Apple paid $5 million to Metrazur in order to buy out the restaurant's lease, with the MTA arguing that the payment makes Apple's 10-year lease on the store equivalent to $180 per square foot in annual rent. But even considering that payment, which does not go to the MTA, Apple's lease rates remain below that of many other tenants in the terminal and well below market rates charged in other prime shopping areas of Manhattan.
Monday October 27, 2025 7:55 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a handful of new features and changes for iPhones, including a toggle for changing the appearance of the Liquid Glass design, "slide to stop" for alarms in the Clock app, and more.
Below, we outline key details about iOS 26.1.
Release Date
Given that Apple has yet to seed an iOS 26.1 Release Candidate, which is typically the final beta version, the...
Apple Maps could feature integrated ads as soon as next year, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports.
In his latest "Power On" newsletter, Gurman said that Apple's plan to bring more ads to iOS is moving "gaining traction," with the Maps app being next in line. The project will apparently give restaurants and other businesses the option to pay to have their details featured more prominently in...
Monday October 27, 2025 4:51 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Apple is designing an updated version of the Apple TV 4K, and rumors suggest that it could come out sometime in the next couple of months. We're not expecting a major overhaul with design changes, but even a simple chip upgrade will bring major improvements to Apple's set-top box.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
We've rounded up all the latest Apple TV rumors.
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Friday October 24, 2025 2:30 pm PDT by Juli Clover
In the fourth iOS 26.1 beta, Apple added a "Tinted" option that reduces the translucency of Liquid Glass for those who prefer a more opaque look. I saw some comments wondering whether the setting might preserve battery life, so I thought I'd do some testing.
Test Settings
I did four separate tests using the iPhone 17 Pro Max, and I kept the parameters as similar as possible. Here are the...
Monday October 27, 2025 9:15 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple this month refreshed the 14-inch MacBook Pro base model with its new M5 chip, and higher-end 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips are expected to follow in early 2026. However, these machines will represent the final update to the current design, with Apple reportedly developing a completely new version of the MacBook Pro packed with next-generation hardware...
Wednesday October 22, 2025 6:15 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a handful of new features and changes for iPhones, including a toggle for changing the appearance of the Liquid Glass design, "slide to stop" for alarms in the Clock app, and more.
iOS 26.1 is currently in beta testing. The update will likely be released in the first half of November, and it is compatible with the iPhone 11 series and newer, but some...
Tuesday October 28, 2025 1:07 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Apple today provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate versions of upcoming iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, macOS Tahoe 26.1, tvOS 26.1, watchOS 26.1, and visionOS 26.1 updates for testing purposes. The RCs betas come a week after Apple released the fourth betas.
The new betas can be downloaded from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software...
The first preview release of the Swift SDK for Android was published this week, allowing developers to build Android apps in Swift with official tooling and making it easier to share code across iOS and Android.
The SDK enables Android apps to be built in Swift using officially supported tooling rather than community workarounds. In June, it was announced that Apple's Swift programming...
Monday October 27, 2025 7:41 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
You will "soon" be able to add a digital version of your U.S. passport to your iPhone, according to Jennifer Bailey, vice president of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet.
Bailey reiterated that the feature is coming soon during her keynote at the Money20/20 USA conference in Las Vegas on Sunday.
On its iOS 26 page, Apple says the delayed feature will be "coming later this year."
Apple's...
So because the MTA "Ripped off" the taxpayers by signing a legally binding contract that is most likely irrevocable--the state government will spend more taxpayer money investigating it.
Nevermind the fact that at Apple's average of $5600 per square foot of revenue, this 23,000 sq foot space will generate over $11 million dollars in sales tax revenue alone for New York each year. That's around $478 per square foot if you're doing the math.
The simple fact is that Apple's stores generate exponentially more revenue than any other retail operation that would open there. The MTA could have paid Apple $50 per square foot to take the space and still come out ahead for New York. That doesn't even account for the boost that other retailers will see on top of what comes directly from Apple.
There is a reason why politicians run for office instead of running businesses or doing real work. They are incapable of it, and this is a shining example.
Money the store will bring in for the Terminal, and surrounding businesses, is why the MTA did this, which is smart. Kill the deal at this point, and Apple walks, you'll get a Forever 21 in there with a Starbucks attached.
Okay, who actually owns the building? Does the City/State or is it privately owned?
I thought it was privately owned, but the article mentions that transit authority handled the deal.
If it is privately owned, then who cares what deal was made to get Apple in the door? I'm sure malls across the country give deals to certain retailers to come to their malls.
Let's say someone in the state of NY figures out that the contract is too generous to Apple. And they want more money. Doesn't matter. The contract is signed. If they want out, Apple will probably allow them to cancel the contract as long as they pay Apple back all the money that Apple invested. And then someone will figure out that this is a very, very expensive plan.
"So I took the time to actually read the underlying and related articles. Apple is paying 4x the rent the prior tenant was. In addition to that they built out an area that was not being rented at all to add square footage to the overall effort. It turns out this space is considered "oddball" because it is not formatted in a way very many tenants could find a way to make it work. While it is true they are not paying a percentage of gross in addition to rent, they are paying four times the prior rental rate to offset it."
One can always count on NY State Democratic lawmakers to be investigating something that can generate high profile news stories. It's their eventual road to the governors office (Spitzer, Cuomo, etc.)
Lucky thing no Republicans ever hype some relatively trivial story to garner cheap, high profile news stories. I know they're too morally upstanding to stoop to such low tactics. :D
It's only those dopey Democratic politicians who work the media for their advantage. Darn them for such crummy tactics.:rolleyes: ;)
