Soho co-op offers cut-rate rent to attract glitzier retailer

A West Broadway co-op off Canal Street is looking to attract a high-end retailer to its 3,300-square-foot ground-floor retail space — and the board is apparently willing to offer a rock bottom rent to get what it wants.

The Jacob Cram Cooperative, located at 307 West Broadway, is asking about $97 per square foot in a bid to attract a tenant more in keeping with luxury stores nearby, which include Bloomingdale’s, Prada and Louis Vuitton. The Soho Garden deli currently occupies the space.

“I feel that any retailer who’s willing to take a chance down here between Broome and Canal [streets], particularly between Grand and Canal — you’re going to get a lower rent,” Lisa Rosenthal, the Lansco Corporation broker representing the co-op, told the Observer.

Asking rents for retail in Soho have surged this year. Rosenthal told the Observer she has heard of rents two to four times higher in the vicinity of the store. Earlier this year, asking rents jumped 41 percent Along Broadway between Houston and Broome streets, increasing from $542 per foot to $762 per foot, The Real Deal previously reported. [NYO] – Tom DiChristopher