New Santa Monica Apple Store to Open at Year's End

A new, three-floor Apple store will open on the Third Street Promenade and the current store just one block away will close by the year's end, Bloomberg reported Monday.

The sale of the land where the new outlet will be located was completed Monday morning, according to Bloomberg, though construction has been underway for months now (it's the former site of the Borders):

Nakash Holdings, the real estate investment unit of the New York-based company that gained fame with its designer jeans in the 1970s, today completed the purchase of the store’s land and building, which is under construction, said Jonathan Bennett, director of real estate for Jordache. It bought the property from Los Angeles-based Blatteis & Schnur Inc. and Bethesda, Maryland-based ASB Capital Management LLC.

"The deal was contingent on Apple being the tenant,” Bennett told Bloomberg. "The Promenade is just a fantastic location and we love Apple."

Apple won city approval for its new, all-glass store in August, reportedly without ever mentioning the Apple name. In a feature story on the company's "secretive practices in opening retail stores," CNN reported the company sometimes refuses to name itself in public documents and hearings, and "has sworn city government officials to secrecy."

The new store will be at 1415 Third St., just .2 miles south of the at 1248 Third St.

FOR THE FULL STORY ON APPLE'S REAL ESTATE DEAL, VISIT BLOOMBERG.COM

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This story was updated at 8:30 p.m. to state the new store will be south, not north, of the current outlet.