By Katie Marsal
Published: 12:00 AM EST (09:00 PM PST)
Progress updates on the construction of a new Apple retail store in San Francisco's Marina District suggest a building well on its way to completion, albeit at the last minute.
ifo Apple Store reported on Thursday that Apple's third store for the city now has its steel framing as well as the air conditioning and electrical wiring, with the stainless metal lining for the inside already waiting in containers.
With a lot size of approximately 40-feet by 95-feet, the new shop is likely to fall between the company's two existing San Francisco locations in terms of square footage. Ongoing construction efforts are reportedly frantic, as workers attempt to complete the project in time to catch late holiday season shoppers.
A reporter from the San Francisco area blog
Curbed noted in one
update that the construction company's parking permit expires in mid-December, leaving the company less than three months to park and operate its heavy machinery outside the storefront. Whether or not employees would be ready to open the store so late into the holiday season is unclear, however.
This hurry may have already registered in a complaint from a neighboring store,
ifo said, referring to city permits. One local resident griped in July that construction work had begun before 6:30 AM.
For Apple, the venture is also a pricey one, regardless of the location's seemingly limited floor space -- the Cupertino-based company and its contractor were reportedly asked to pay $100,000 to remove the Walgreen's pharmacy that once occupied the location, and a much heftier $2.6 million to build the new store.
The Apple store's location relative to the Marina Theater. | Credit: Curbed.
The exposed framework of the future Chestnut store. | Credit: Curbed.
The location appears to be wider than Stonestown. | Credit: Curbed.
Even with these considerations looming over its head, however, Apple stands to benefit significantly from the outlet's help in satiating the Bay Area's demand for the company's products. During the initial rush to buy the iPhone, San Francisco's Stockton Street flagship and the Stonestown mall stores were some of the
first to run out of the handset, and have been home to some of the most frenzied buying during the holidays.
