Photo by afagen

iScuttlebutt alert! The Post reported yesterday that CityCenterDC, the massive new mixed-use development just blocks from Chinatown and the Washington Convention Center, could be the site of the city’s second Apple store:

Keen observers of the construction, however — particularly those with some retail know-how — have taken note of the extremely large and prominent retail space being constructed on the north face of one of the two CityCenter office buildings.

The storefront takes up the entire side of the building and faces what will be a triangular bow-tie park along New York Avenue, meaning whatever opens there won’t have another building obstructing views.

Apple isn’t talking either. “We haven’t made any announcements about a store in Washington” said spokeswoman Amy Bessette.

The thinking, however, is that either Hines has locked up Apple or feels good enough about the possibility that it was willing to go ahead with carving out a prominent space. Retail brokers offering storefronts nearby have already begun plotting how to take advantage of the huge foot traffic that an Apple store is likely to bring to the intersection.

This isn’t the first time that this rumor has been floated—it also came to light in late 2011—but the entire CityCenter project is coming closer to completion, so final confirmation (or disappointment) should be confirmed soon.

The site would make sense: not only is it well-located, but the new building would be able to offer Apple the type of space it wants, and without any of the historical restrictions that dogged the design of its first outpost in Georgetown. During that process, the Old Georgetown Board—which oversees the neighborhood’s historic codes—rejected four possible designs for the store, settling on an understated design that is much more conservative than what most Apple stores tend to look like.