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Apple employees in red t-shirts greeted Betabeat as we wandered around the open air Apple store that recently appeared on Grand Central Terminal's East Balcony. "Hi! How are you? Hi! Can I help you?" We were there for the press sneak preview, along with dozens of other media from Gothamist to CNBC, the cameraman for which was so excited he dropped his microphone. Although the store opens Friday at 10 a.m., press were allowed to buy things. Judging by the number of iPhones out, we bet someone did, especially with all those helpful holiday Apple elves, who looked especially Christmas-y in the golden light of Grand Central.

Check out pictures of the new Apple store

The new Apple store boasts 315 employees, two Genius bars, an accessory room, six training tables, and 15-minute "express workshops." It is one of the largest Apple stores in the world. It is the fifth Apple store in New York (Upper West Side, West Village, Soho, Fifth Ave.) and you can buy things there without talking to anyone. Bob Bridger, VP of retail, real estate and development, was almost Jobsian in his jeans and black collared shirt as he explained Apple Grand Central's "personal pickup service," by which customers can order and pay for something using the Apple Store App, then walk into the store and pick it up. Customers can also use their phones to buy devices without interacting with employees using the month-old EasyPay feature of the Apple Store app. This is great for holiday shopping in a rush, he noted.

We grimaced as we imagined the crush of Grand Central customers in the store will look like once it opens. Already, commuters were pausing to ask the employees who stood guard over the staircase when the store would be open, and what the hours would be. At least, the Grand Central store is infinitely more open and spacious than its cousins on Fifth Avenue, Soho, and in malls across America.

There could be drama this week beyond the usual Apple fan frenzy, though. Change.org announced a rally at the grand opening on Friday. "Apple customers will gather at the grand opening of Apple’s newest and largest location in Grand Central Terminal to call on CEO Tim Cook to commit to building an iPhone with conflict-free minerals from Eastern Congo," announced a press release.

Check out pictures from the new Apple store in Grand Central.

The MTA wants to show the Comptroller its spirit stick.

The MTA is not afraid of New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli. The Comptroller announced yesterday that he would be investigating whether the MTA gave Apple too sweet a deal on its Grand Central lease. For its response, the MTA dug deep in the turn-of-the-century sports comedy cannon:

"With regard to any calls for an investigation into the lease, our comment is this: 'Bring it on,'" the agency told MacRumors. 

The New York Post first broke the story that the MTA gave Apple a very different deal than its other tenants—offering the tech giant the low-low price of $60 per-sq-ft. and no profit-sharing clause. But the MTA argues that the space's previous tenant, Metrazur, only paid $263,000 in rent and didn't make enough money to be subjected to profit-sharing either. Apple, on the other hand, will be paying $1.1 million a year, and that's after a $5 million buyout of Metrazur's lease and $2.5 million in infrastructure improvements, which needed to follow historic preservation regulations.

The MTA tells MacRumors:

"This is the best possible deal for the MTA. When all of the costs are included, Apple is paying more than $180 per square foot over the ten-year lease. As the competitive bidding process revealed, there are no other uses for this space that would generate the same revenue for the MTA given the up-front costs and limitations."

The MTA also says that other tenants are "very pleased" about the prospect of additional foot traffic that Apple will bring in. Although considering they have to share profits and Apple doesn't (American Apple exceptionalism!), we imagine it's the same kind of "very pleased" startups issue from behind gritted teeth when Apple muscles into their territory.

Look what's waiting for you in your cubby, Apple?

The New York Post just outed the M.T.A.'s secret Valentine: Apple. As the paper reports, the M.T.A. seems to have handed Apple prime square footage in Grand Central with precious few stipulations, despite the retail location's expected windfall of $100 million a year in sales.

Not only did the M.T.A. give Apple the bargain basement price of $60-per-sq-ft. (Shake Shack, by contrast is paying $200-per-sq-ft.), but the M.T.A. also failed to negotiate a percentage of sales, leaving real estate insiders scratching their heads.

“I am surprised they didn’t get some kind of percentage,” said Robin Abrams, executive vice president at real estate firm Lansco. “You’d think if they were going to do, say, $50 million in sales, the MTA would at least get some percentage of anything over that.”

The M.T.A. claims they are now getting quadruple the amount previous tenants paid for that particular space. However, according to leases obtained by the Post, except for a lone Chase ATM, all the other shops and restaurants in Grand Central  "pay the MTA a percentage of their sales that exceed a given threshold. For every 1 percent increase in their sales, the MTA projects it will reap $500,000," says the paper.

Who knew the Steve Jobs reality distortion field worked on transportation execs? Just wait til next year when Apple tries convinces the M.T.A. to upgrade its antiquated old lease for a shiny new Lease 4S. Still no 4G on that either.

A work in progress as of Friday (via Techfootnote)

It's hard to keep the development of the world's largest Apple store under wraps when it's happening in a building with 750,000 daily visitors. But the company is trying.

On Friday, 9to5Mac reports that dozens of construction workers and corporate reps were on hand prepare for an announcement expected tomorrow. Surprise! You know that Apple Store that's been religiously photographed and filmed for months? It exists!

Tomorrow's presentation is likely to make public the news of a grand (pun intentional) opening on Black Friday or later Thanksgiving weekend.

Techfootnote obtained some images of Friday's hustle and bustle. According to 9to5Mac, shoppers can expect the same "one more thing" showmanship they've come to expect from anything associated with Steve Jobs:

"In the images you can see what looks to be several large hanging boards.  The boards are hung on large hooks, which would make it easy to pull off and reveal what is behind the boards."

This week, the store is being stocked and the 300 employees who will man the Grand Central store are being trained in other Apple retail locations around New York. All employees attended a special meeting last night to go over policies and "loss prevention" over the holidays. No word yet on whether Apple's open stance on pet goats will apply here.

You can see right through this one

Apple's plans to bring the world's largest iStore to Grand Central always seemed to defy all laws of taste, landmarks preservation and possibly even physics.

Apparently, Apple has reached the same conclusion, because a source close to the M.T.A. has confirmed that the company has backed out of plans to bring computers to commuters in an 16,000-square-foot store on the balconies of Grand Central's main terminal.

Newmark Knight Frank top broker Jeffrey Roseman dangled the news in a recent tweet: "Lets see if Apple NOT coming to Grand Central gets as much press as it got, when the rumor started," he dared. So bite we did.

The negotiations were always preliminary, as The Observer reported earlier, and appear to just have fallen through. We've called the M.T.A., Apple and Landmarks Preservation for comment, but we suspect they're all enjoying gelato in the park by now.

lkusisto@observer.com