Satire: Autumn Foliage Installation
by Jed Dunkerly @ Vermillion,
originally uploaded by JeanineAnderson.
Just this week we documented the high level of dependence one Capitol Hill business had on Apple products. And we’ve also reported on the interdependence Capitol Hill retail has with Seattle’s downtown and University Village. That downtown JC Penney isn’t going to happen while a new Target is still planned for 2nd Ave.
And rumors of a downtown Apple store are back:
Rumors have been swirling for the past 15 months about potential downtown Seattle locations for an Apple store, and now tipsters are pointing to the Broadacres Building on 2nd Avenue, where three levels of space will become available when Nordstrom Rack relocates in the coming months. According to the sources, Apple’s real estate team has been in contact with the building management about leasing the space, but no firm commitment has been made.
The 2nd Ave location is available with the Nordstrom Rack’s move into Westlake. Not sure if Apple would make the area around 3rd and Pine more stable — or more of a mess.
This rumor has been sitting around for more than a month now and we haven’t seen any additional reporting on it from Seattle media. Don’t know if that means it’s totally bogus — or totally embargoed.
…it would be great to have an Apple store in the upcoming development on top of the Light Rail station. We could walk there, the rest of the region could come by train or streetcar.
A chain store on Capitol Hill? I can hear the panties wadding up as I type this.
That’s how much another Apple Store matters. (coming from a macbook owner)
Then again, they keep opening up Starbucks all over the place. Same deal I suppose. People like brands. I am wondering when Apple will fall out of vogue though. It’s not like they are underdogs anymore. By my reckoning this is probably the longest lasting giant most-profitable-in-it’s-category semi-evil company to stay cool.
Hehehe, thoughts? Hatred?
Hmmmm, I’m all for not having to travel to U Village or Bellevue, but I don’t know if putting a big glass street-facing Apple Store below 4th Avenue is a good idea. I feel like 2nd Ave is sketchy enough that anyone carrying a white Apple bag on would be easy targets for mugging/snatching incidents.
Every Apple store I have ever visited is in a rather sterile location and 2nd Ave. is everything but that. Obviously the U Village store comes to mind as well as the 24 hour store in NYC across from Bergdorf Goodman. Im thinking this is a rumor and if Capitol Hill can’t keep an escaltor from functioning properly because constant vandalizm (Read other story posted today on CHS) I’m thinking Capitol Hill isn’t close in the running. I wish it was and I would totally go to it if so but its not worth my time to think about it now.
As someone who is keenly aware of retail Apple, and real estate in Downtown Seattle, I cannot see any way Apple would ever realistically take that location. It is in a terrible area and is too “downmarket” for their usual retail strategy. While an Apple store would be great, I really see them preferring the space vacated by Levis. It is in a better retail area, it is a several-story space with a tall facade that they can do whatever they want to it. They cannot do this to the Broadacre building.
Agree, I used to work in the Broadacres building and I think it is way too downmarket and too limiting for their brand. If JC Penney didn’t even find the area palatable, I can’t imagine Apple liking it. They seem more Pacific Place to me.
Just so we can watch Occupy Seattle protesters smash windows at the MSFT Store, you know, to protest corporate greed.
Maybe it’s just my perception, but it seems to me (at least) that the dicey area is really at 3rd and Pike/Pine more than it is elsewhere.
Exactly. There is nothing wrong with the Broadacres Building or area. If you want a sterile environment move to Bellevue. People today have huge class and social egos. Get over yourself.
Have you changed your editorial policy of only featuring stories that happen on capitol hill? (poke)
Second Avenue isn’t that bad. It’s Third Avenue which is kind of sketchy.
Blancheatthedubois — The Downtown Retail Core is a far more logical location for an Apple store than Capitol Hill. Downtown is a much bigger shopping district, it already has stores of a similar cache in its core, and it now has a denser population than Capitol Hill.
Um, there isn’t one Downtown. You have to drive to the suburbs (and, yes, University Village is suburban) to get to one. That’s the problem. It’s counter-intuitive for urbanites. Healthy urban cores have healthy retail districts with a healthy selection of products that people will want to purchase.