Why do the good real estate ideas always have to die young? Apple's prospects for a Flatiron district retail store have been officially extinguished. Last year this time, The Real Estate reported that the company had worked heartily with the city's Landmarks Preservation Committee in order to perfect its plans for renovating the 1850 rowhouse at 136 Fifth Ave.

But the building, remembered by hip coffee shop connoisseurs as Andrews, is now fated to house the first NYC store of the unbearably less chic White House Black Market. (Which White House? Where's the Black Market?).

The middle aged-ladies' clothing retailer is sub-leasing from Apple, though the companies involved--including brokerage Robert K. Futterman--cited Apple's penchant for privacy as a reason for silence.

Continuing The Real Estate's healthy relationship with Apple PR, a company spokeswoman repeatedly declared: "We've never announced any plans for stores in that area, nor have we announced any future plans."

Pity, too, because we truly had been hoping for another big shiny cube.

- Max Abelson