If you happen to live by a Borders, you may have noticed that many of the booksellers locations are going out of business. Indeed, Borders Group Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection in mid-February and has already started closing down hundreds of outlets.
One of those locations is a Borders located in New Orleans on the corner of St. Charles and Louisiana avenues, a prime retail location. Borders initially signed a 16-year lease for the property three years ago via Stirling Forterra LLC, who is now, rumor has it, entertaining offers from retail giants like Best Buy and Apple.
The property in question dates back to 1920 and was formerly the Bultman Funeral Home before it closed for business in 2006. In 2007, Sterling Forterra purchased the property and put $9.2 million into renovating the 24,000 square foot property located south of popular tourist spots and “along the tracks of the city’s historic trolley line.”
Apple of course isn’t shy about purchasing historic buildings and renovating them with a splash of modern flair while maintaining their historical integrity. This past Summer, for example, Apple opened up a retail store in Paris in a historic bank that Apple restored while keeping many of the bank’s original elements intact. Apple called the store design a “marriage between the historic building and the latest in technology.”
Per square foot, Apple retail stores on average earn more revenue than nearly any other retailer on the planet.
via ifoAppleStore
Wed, Apr 6, 2011
News, Rumors