At the Santa Monica Planning Commission tonight, Apple is believed to be proposing a dramatic new Apple Retail Store on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, California. As first noted by Curbed, the proposal is from an unnamed retailer who is seeking to construct a new 8,084 square foot commercial building in the place of an existing three story Borders Bookstore.
The applicant is listed as "Howard Robinson" and the property owner as ASB/Blatteis Promenade Holdings, LLC, but one look at the renderings (above and below), and it's clear that this is an Apple Retail store project.
The proposal (PDF) is for a one-story, 34-foot high commercial building with an "expansive floor-to-ceiling height accentuated by a transparent glass ceiling." The front will be entirely glass that will project from stone paneled side walls. A 5,210 sq foot basement will also be included.
The applicant also intends to implement a transportation program for employees to travel to and from the store using alternative modes of transportation. Full-time employees will be offered $100 monthly transit subsidy and a $20/month bicycle reimbursement subsidy as well as bicycle parking in the basement level.
Apple has been making some major upgrades to their retail stores in the recent months. Their 5th Avenue Store in New York is undergoing a $6.6 million upgrade while a new Grand Central project has also been making headlines.
Apple, of course, already has an Apple Retail store on Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade, but it has been said to get very crowded on weekends, so this may represent an upgrade and replacement to the existing store.
Saturday October 18, 2025 11:00 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
iOS 26 was released last month, but the software train never stops, and iOS 26.1 beta testing is already underway. So far, iOS 26.1 makes both Apple Intelligence and Live Translation on compatible AirPods available in additional languages, and it includes some other minor changes across the Apple Music, Calendar, Photos, Clock, and Safari apps.
More features and changes will follow in future ...
Monday October 20, 2025 10:57 am PDT by Juli Clover
With the fourth betas of iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, and macOS 26.1, Apple has introduced a new setting that's designed to allow users to customize the look of Liquid Glass.
The toggle lets users select from a clear look for Liquid Glass, or a tinted look. Clear is the current Liquid Glass design, which is more transparent and shows the background underneath buttons, bars, and menus, while tinted ...
Sunday October 19, 2025 7:39 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
iOS 26.4 is expected to introduce a revamped version of Siri powered by Apple Intelligence, but not everyone is satisfied with how well it works.
In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said some of Apple's software engineers have "concerns" about the overhauled Siri's performance. However, he did not provide any specific details about the shortcomings.
iOS 26.4 will...
Friday October 17, 2025 7:35 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple's software engineers continue to internally test iOS 26.0.2, according to MacRumors logs, which have been a reliable indicator of upcoming iOS versions.
iOS 26.0.2 will be a minor update that addresses bugs and/or security vulnerabilities, but we do not know any specific details yet.
The update will likely be released by the end of next week.
Last month, Apple released iOS 26.0.1,...
Saturday October 18, 2025 10:57 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
While the new iPad Pro's headline feature is the M5 chip, the device has some other changes, including N1 and C1X chips, faster storage speeds, and more.
With the M5 chip, the new iPad Pro has up to a 20% faster CPU and up to a 40% faster GPU compared to the previous model with the M4 chip, according to Geekbench 6 results. Keep in mind that 256GB and 512GB configurations have a 9-core CPU,...
Monday October 20, 2025 1:55 pm PDT by Juli Clover
With the fourth beta of iOS 26.1, Apple added a toggle that makes Liquid Glass more opaque and reduces transparency. We tested the beta to see where the toggle works and what it looks like.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
If you have the latest iOS 26.1 beta, you can go to Settings > Display and Brightness to get to the new option. Tap on Liquid Glass, then...
Thursday October 16, 2025 9:13 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple on Wednesday updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and Vision Pro with its next-generation M5 chip, but previous rumors have indicated that the company still plans to announce at least a few additional products before the end of the year.
The following Apple products have at one point been rumored to be updated in 2025, although it is unclear if the timeframe for any of them has...
Monday October 20, 2025 1:02 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Even though we're at the fourth beta of iOS 26.1, Apple is continuing to add new features. In fact, the fourth beta has some of the biggest changes that we'll get when iOS 26.1 releases to the public later this month. We've rounded up what's new below.
Liquid Glass Transparency Toggle
Apple added a toggle for customizing the look of Liquid Glass. In Settings > Display and Brightness,...
Monday October 20, 2025 1:42 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Kohler is expanding its line of bathroom products with Dekoda, an iPhone-connected device that's designed to be attached to a toilet rim (via The Verge). The device's included "sensors" point into the toilet bowl, allowing it to analyze what goes on in the bathroom.
According to Kohler, Dekoda is a health tracker that can monitor gut health and hydration, as well as detect the presence of...
In the UK, we have something called 'planning permission'. And there's no way a glass roof would be approved in an earthquake zone! (not that we have large quakes in the UK...)
If they are allowed to construct such a building then it's madness and puts everyone inside at risk.
Modern buildings built in earthquake zones are built to very strict standards and are very safe. Take the huge earthquake in Japan this year - it was one of the 5 largest earthquakes ever recorded since 1900, but virtually all the deaths were from the resultant Tsunami, not the earthquake. Countless glass towers hundreds of meters high in Tokyo survived with little or no damage.
In addition, modern safety glass of the type used in commercial buildings is very strong. In fact, concrete is often reinforced with glass fibers to make it stronger. Even in the unlikely event that something did cause it to fail, it breaks into small harmless pellets - NOT razor sharp shards.
Do you really think that Apple's architects don't know what they're doing and/or aren't familiar with California building codes?
