Apple has found the beef in the Meatpacking District, with the hip electronics retailer leasing a whopper of a store at 401 W. 14th St. – its third in the Big Apple.
The Post has learned Apple is leasing more than 32,000 feet on the cellar, ground and second floor of the 60,000-square-foot, low-rise structure on the northwest corner of 14th Street and Ninth Avenue.
Apple already has a store on Prince Street in SoHo and in the General Motors Building Plaza on Fifth Avenue. Earlier plans for a store on 34th Street are expected to be scrapped.
Paul Pariser, president of Taconic Partners, which owns the property, declined to discuss the Apple lease.
The former home to a Western Beef grocery store and Belgian restaurant Markt, the building where the new store will open is being completely renovated and getting a new 9,000-square-foot penthouse along with 2,500 feet of terraces overlooking the triangular intersection of Ninth Avenue, Hudson Street and 14th Street.
High-end retailers Stella McCartney, Jeffrey and Alexander McQueen are among Apple’s neighboring retailers.
Still left to rent is 7,000 square feet on the ground level, which has an asking rent of $400 a square foot, 1,500 in the cellar, 10,500 feet on the third floor, and the penthouse space, which has potential as either a showroom or restaurant. Retail brokers at Robert K. Futterman & Associates are acting as agents for the building.
News of Apple’s latest store in the city comes a day after the company reported blockbuster second-quarter financial results, including an 88 percent surge in profits on the continued demand for iPods and Apple computers.
For the three months ended March 31, Apple’s profit jumped to $770 million from $410 million a year earlier. Revenue jumped 21 percent to $5.26 billion. [email protected]
