New details on downtown Detroit Apple store revealed in newly released city documents

Public documents released to Crain’s on Wednesday confirm the location of the incoming Apple Inc. retail store in downtown Detroit.

In nearly 400 pages of construction drawings, the Cupertino, Calif.-based tech behemoth is identified a dozen times for property at 1430 Woodward Ave., one of the storefronts that Crain’s reported in May 2023 as being the targeted destination for the city’s long-sought Apple store.

The documents, released under a Freedom of Information Act request, say the store is designed to be about 11,200 square feet. There would be about 6,500 square feet of sales area plus about 4,500 square feet of “backstage” space, the documents say. They refer to features like the “genius bar,” where customers can get tech support on things like their iPhones and iPads, more than 200 times. Some were submitted in summer 2022, meaning the store has been in serious discussions for at least 2 1/2 years. 

An email was sent to spokespeople for Dan Gilbert’s Bedrock LLC, the Detroit-based real estate development, ownership, management and leasing company that owns the space at 1426-1434 Woodward Ave. north of the Shinola Hotel where Apple is expected to open its store. Apple also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Formal confirmation of plans for a downtown Detroit store came Friday on Apple’s website, although a specific location was not disclosed. 

This marks the first public confirmation of a specific location for Apple’s incoming retail footprint in Detroit. Crain’s reported in May 2023 that Bedrock was attempting to put Apple into the three recently vacated storefronts along Woodward, and in October on a job listing for a Detroit store management position.

An Apple store has long been seen as a big retail win for the city. It has attracted national brand-name tenants including Nike, Chick-Fil-A, Shake Shack, Chipotle, H&M, Lululemon, Warby Parker, Greyson Clothiers, Gucci and others, but Apple has been seen as a Holy Grail. Gilbert and his team have been courting one on and off for the better part of the last 15 years, with various locations in his vast real estate portfolio eyed. 

A targeted opening date for the Apple store is not known. However, work has been ongoing at the site for at least a year. The storefronts were previously home to Detroit is the New Black, Madewell and Le Labo retail stores.

Elsewhere in metro Detroit, Apple has stores in Somerset Collection in Troy, Twelve Oaks Mall in Novi, Briarwood Mall in Ann Arbor (although that one is moving outside the mall) and The Mall at Partridge Creek in Clinton Township.

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