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With Apple, Shake Shack On Board, Grand Central Will Be Home To Longest. Lines. Ever.
By
Garth Johnston
Published Jul 25, 2011
Modified Jul 26, 2011
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By
Garth Johnston
Published Jul 25, 2011
Modified Jul 26, 2011
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The t's still need to be crossed and the i's dotted, but once the full board votes on Wednesday it looks like all those rumors will be true: Apple and Shake Shack are coming to Grand Central Terminal. The MTA's director of real estate, Jeffrey Rosen, confirmed the news today and let slip a bit of new information about the newest additions to the terminal, pointing out that the newcomers will further “not only a digital, but a cheeseburger divide” between the soaring terminal and its ugly sibling across town, Penn Station.
The new Apple store will be the company's largest and will fill not only the Metrazur space (which Apple is paying $5 million to have it vacate its lease early) but also a space next door which is currently vacant.
The Shake Shack, meanwhile, will take over the Zocalo space downstairs. And it famously long lines have been a special trick for the MTA, which expects so many customers to line up for those tasty burgers that it has had to “devise a special crowd control plan that will entail queuing on the Oyster Bar ramp” according to planning documents.
All in all, good news for fans of popular electronics, burgers and lines. Or, as Rosen put it, “I can’t imagine why any kid in Westchester would want to do anything other than go into Grand Central and shop at Apple and eat at Shake Shack.”
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