The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is looking for new tenants for a marquee space in Grand Central Terminal, and computer giant Apple Inc. has expressed interest in putting a store there.
The agency is looking for a single renter for two adjacent balconies on the north and east sides of the terminal. It will issue a request for proposals Monday. The current tenant of one of the balconies, celebrity chef Charlie Palmer's Métrazur restaurant, plans to close July 1 even though his lease ran until 2019 and the eatery was doing "quite well," Mr. Palmer said Sunday.
"It's an offer that's hard to refuse," said Mr. Palmer, who declined to put a number on it. "It's hard to compete with whatever that company might be that's taking the space."
A new tenant would be required to pay Mr. Palmer a substantial sum of money to vacate his lease.
If Apple inks a deal to put a store in the train terminal, it would be company's fifth Manhattan retail location. It would also be among the most challenging. The terminal is a city landmark, so any changes to the interior must be approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. At 15,230 square feet, the space the MTA is putting up for rent is small compared to Apple's other Manhattan locations.
But the payoff could be high for the gadget maker. In addition to the tens of thousands of well-heeled commuters who pass through every day on their way to and from Connecticut's Gold Coast and Westchester County, Grand Central is a magnet for tourists who come to gawk at its Beaux-Arts architecture and constellation-dotted ceiling.
Retail experts said an Apple store in Grand Central could surpass the popularity of the store that's open 24 hours a day under the plaza in front the General Motors building. Apple's designers built that store by putting a glass cube leading into a basement on Fifth Avenue, and experts figure the computer maker would figure out a clever way to make the Grand Central site work.
The MTA has spoken with Apple about the space and hopes that the company bids on it, said Jeremy Soffin, a spokesman for the authority. Other stores and restaurants could also bid on the space. An Apple spokesman declined to comment.
The MTA, which projects big budget deficits in future years, is trying to wring more money out of its vast real-estate holdings across the New York region. It wants to sell or lease its Madison Avenue headquarters complex and is looking at cutting back on the amount of office space it uses.
"We believe that this special site in Grand Central Terminal can generate more revenue to support transit services," Mr. Soffin said.
Grand Central has become a sought-after location for retailers and restaurateurs in the decade since the MTA completed a four-year, $200 million restoration of the building. During that project, the MTA removed decades of soot and smoke from the ceiling to reveal the stars beneath, scrubbed clean dirty stones in the Vanderbilt Hall waiting area and built the east staircase and balcony that it's now looking to lease.
Mr. Palmer estimates that he pays about $400,000 per year in rent and fees for Métrazur's space. That price, a bargain by today's standards, was agreed to just after the renovation was completed in 1998. Now the MTA is convinced it can get much more. For example, it's asking at least $145,000 per year plus a share of profits for a small, 725-square-foot seafood counter in the Grand Central Market.
Mr. Palmer is looking elsewhere for a new restaurant after he closes Métrazur. He has looked across Grand Central's Great Hall to the west balcony, which is currently occupied by Michael Jordan's The Steak House N.Y.C. The Glazier Group, which manages the steak house, is in bankruptcy restructuring but hasn't talked to Mr. Palmer about leaving Grand Central, said Matthew Glazier, the group's president.
"We've had a great run there," Mr. Palmer said of Grand Central. A new restaurant outside the terminal would likely take many of Métrazur's staffers, but not its name, he said. Métrazur is named for a train that once ran along the coast of France to Monaco.
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