[DNAinfo/Mark Konkol]
MAGNIFICENT MILE — Guess those weren't apple trees in the way of the new Michigan Avenue Apple Store.
Construction workers chainsawed a group of trees along the Chicago River on Tuesday to make way for Downtown's new highly-anticipated Apple Store.
The buzz of a chainsaw filled Pioneer Plaza outside the Tribune Tower on Tuesday afternoon as workers felled three trees.
Two trees were left standing along the river— but based on the Apple Store renderings, the future looks bleak for them as well.
David Matthews talks about Apple's riverfront move.
Designed by London-based Foster + Partners, the new store will consist of a glass box on the Downtown plaza leading down to a 20,000-square-foot riverfront store.
Apple announced last year that it planned to move its store from 679 N. Michigan Ave. to Pioneer Court, and prep work began last week.
“This development will further activate the plaza while enhancing office and retail amenities for our tenants, neighbors, and visitors," Paul Zeller of Zeller Realty Group, which owns the riverfront plaza, said in a statement then.
A rendering of the future riverfront Apple store. [Foster + Partners]
RELATED: New Riverfront Apple Store Prepares To Break Ground Off Magnificent Mile
The north riverfront is now blocked from Michigan Avenue, and those boarding the Shoreline Sightseeing cruises there will have to walk around to the east side of the tower at 401 N. Michigan Ave. while construction is underway.
Previously, construction crews moved a bust of Jean Baptiste DuSable, Chicago's first settler, to make way for the Apple store. The bust will return to the plaza when construction is finished.
A Zeller spokeswoman did not return a message about the trees getting cut down. Here's a last look at them:
The last days of the riverfront trees. [DNAinfo]
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