Apple submitted plans to relocate its flagship San Francisco retail store three blocks north, placing the new store directly on Union Square, which is the heart of the city’s high-end shopping district. Despite the initial praise for the project from city officials, Apple’s proposal ended up quickly drawing criticism for a number of its features, including an 80-foot long blank wall along Stockton Street and the apparent removal of a sculptural fountain which is directly located at the entrance stairway to a public plaza.

According to The San Francisco Chronicle, the city’s Planning Department has issued its preliminary project assessment (PDF) on Apple’s proposal, indicating that it would like to see a number of changes to the project. The following was mentioned regarding the topic:

There's too much glass on Post Street and too much metal on Stockton. The plaza that would accompany it needs a friendlier entrance. Planners also want the project to include a circular bronze fountain by Ruth Asawa that is the centerpiece of the plaza now on the block.

Despite all this, the city's top planner said Thursday that he sees no reason Apple can't build a modernistic metal-and-glass box within the historic setting of the Union Square retail district.
As of right now, the city’s planners object to the uniform wall of glass along the store’s main frontage on Post Street, which suggests that Apple should do more to break up the wall by including colors, textures, or vertical design elements. Possibilities for improving the blank Stockton Street frontage were also suggested, including adding windows or pulling back the storefront to allow for landscaping and perhaps public seating areas. When it came to Apple’s controversial proposed changes to the public plaza behind the store, planning officials asked Apple to find a way to widen the entrance stairway to help draw in visitors. Apple was also being asked to incorporate the existing fountain sculpture by San Francisco artist Ruth Asawa into the new plaza design and if it wasn’t feasible to assist with finding a new location for the fountain.

Apple hasn’t disclosed any timeline for building the new store and relocating its operations from its existing store as of yet. The timeline is definitely dependent on how long negotiations with city officials take to achieve a design satisfactory to all parties. The project isn’t about to be finished anytime in the near future though as there is a lot of work to be done.