Apple’s Grand at terminal

APPLE’S NEW megastore at Grand Central Terminal has boosted business at other stores in the historic hub, officials said Monday.

Sales at other retailers and restaurants rose 7.5% between December and March compared with the corresponding period a year earlier, said Nancy Marshall, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s director of Grand Central development.

“Apple has been a super thing for tenants and the overall public,” Marshall said at an MTA committee meeting. “The tenants couldn’t be happier.”

The MTA rents space to about 100 businesses at the terminal.

When the Apple store opened in December 2011, MTA officials said they expected the terminal would draw more people who would also spend money at Grand Central.

Retailers at the terminal racked up $177 million in sales last year, up 2.8% from 2010.

Officials couldn’t immediately quantify in dollars the 7.5% increase in sales after Apple’s arrival.

Rent the MTA charges and collects from businesses at the terminal has steadily risen over the years and is projected to reach approximately $30.3 million in 2012, officials said.