Yet another city is working with Apple on the company’s architectural design for a new street-level store, this time in San Luis Obispo (Calif.), a picturesque town of 45,000 along the state’s central coast that is celebrating its 150th birthday. A story in “The Tribune” newspaper says there are “design issues that still need to be worked out,” for the location at 899 Higuera Street. Clair Clark, the city’s economic development manager, told the reporter, “They’re very specific about what they want, and we’re specific about what we want, so it’s taking time.”
The story also quotes local reseller Shane Williams of the Mac Superstore, who says, “But we’re not sitting still. We have big plans in place over the next few months. We’ll adjust and make the most of it.” The company’s store is also on Higuera Street, but about a mile south of Apple’s future location, outside the downtown district. The store has been open since 1999.
The region is also served by a computer store selling Apple gear at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, a university with 18,000+ students.
The proposed store’s building is not historic, but it’s located in the Downtown Historic District, which requires an architectural review by the city’s Cultural Heritage Committee. Apple submitted its planning request in early May through the developer of the building, Copeland’s Downtown Centre, apparently to keep its name on the down-low.
The square-block, paseo-type mall was built in the mid-1990’s, and its plazas, theaters and up-scale retailers have drawn more shoppers to downtown and set a standard for subsequent downtown retail plans submitted to the city.
The location is on the corner of Higuera and Morro Streets, in the former Express for Men store space (labeled “Structure” on the site plan).
In this photo of the Downtown Centre, you can see the red-brick façade of the complex. Apple is proposing design changes to the exterior portion of the complex that faces Higuera Street, which also features a red-brick façade with white-painted Roman columns on both sides of the double-door entrance.
Download a report (pdf) to the city’s Cultural Heritage Committee by Community Development director John Mandeville.
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