Apple Retail Landlord Program

ADC worked with GGP on the landlord scope for ten Apple stores at shopping centers across the country. Apple’s retail prototype called for large, open sales floors with as few structural interruptions as possible, which often conflicted with the column layouts and structural systems of the existing malls. ADC did not design the Apple store interiors. Our work focused on preparing the landlord space and coordinating the substantial architectural and structural modifications required to make those interiors possible.

Removing columns was rarely a simple transfer-beam exercise. Several locations required new micropiles and major steel framing to redirect loads around the open retail floor. Because the work took place inside existing shopping centers, large structural members could not simply be delivered and set in place. Steel beams were fabricated in sections small enough to move through the building, brought into the tenant space, and assembled and erected within the existing structure. Each location required a solution based on its own columns, foundations, floor elevations, access limitations, surrounding tenants, and existing building systems.

The structural work also had to account for the substantial loads created by Apple’s floor construction, fixtures, heavy furniture, and storefront systems. The large glass storefront doors in particular placed significant demands on the supporting structure and required close coordination between the landlord work and Apple’s requirements.

Across ten locations, no two projects were straightforward. ADC coordinated the landlord architecture, existing conditions, structural modifications, storefront interfaces, and construction documents needed to hand Apple a space capable of supporting its highly specific retail environment.