Apple’s improved Fifth Avenue store will include glass cube, more natural light

It’s a big day for Apple. The tech giant announced the next version of the iPhone, opening parts of its new campus to journalists from across the country. The company also took the opportunity to address its retail business and store designs, notably its revised Fifth Avenue store. Intel coming out of the presentation from Tech Crunch journalist Matt Swider—see his tweet below—has the store reopening in late 2018, glass cube and all.

Despite filings with the Department of Buildings to remove the glass cube in its entirety, a rendering displayed during the presser shows that the cube will very much be present when the store reopens. The rendering (and DOB filings and other journalists) also hints that light wells will be installed across the Fifth Avenue plaza, buttressing Apple senior vice president of retail Angela Ahrendts’s comments that the improved store design will include more natural light.

If all goes according to plan, Apple’s flagship store will be back up and running at it’s new full capacity come the holidays.

There’s a long way to go before its vaunted reopening can happen, though. As of now, the Fifth Avenue store is an unrecognizable pit. Apple is in the midsts of expanding the store’s footprint from 32,000 square feet to 77,000 square feet.

• Apple Store's glass cube on Fifth Avenue is taking a sabbatical [Curbed]