Despite $125M in existing vacancies, 60 Guilders plans to buy more Soho retail

In the past few years, private equity firm 60 Guilders and its partners shelled out $125 million for a pair of retail properties in Soho. Those spaces — at 106 Spring and 119 Spring — remain vacant, but 60 Guilders says they’re actually in negotiations to buy more retail in the neighborhood.

“Soho is the only outdoor shopping area on the planet with a critical mass of 600-plus stores, with premier and mass-market stores right next to each other,” Kevin Chisholm, managing partner and co-founder of 60 Guilders, told the New York Post. “There’s something for everyone and different types can co-exist next to each other.”

The company owns about 27,000 square feet of retail space in Soho, and doesn’t appear to be slowing down. In March, 60 Guilders partnered with the Carlyle Group to buy the 3,200-square-foot space at 121 Spring Street for $28 million.

Chisolm told the Post the properties at 106 Spring, 119 Spring and 542 Broadway are worth $1,000 a foot at the ground level. He also said vacancies at his Spring Street properties have no bearing on how another Soho retail property they want to buy would do. “If you let 434 Broadway negatively impact you, it’s like if John Goodman can’t get a date, it should affect Leo DiCaprio’s ability to get a date,” he told the Post, adding that the firm is in negotiations to buy more Soho retail.

Retail in the neighborhood has been struggling greatly. In October, The Real Deal found that 569,000 square feet of retail space was sitting vacant in Soho, or about 16.3 percent of the total 3.5 million square feet of retail. A recent CBRE report said asking rents for ground-floor stores were between $588 and $828 a square foot.

Still, there are some positive trends. CBRE’s fourth-quarter report for 2017 noted that Soho was the most active neighborhood by total square feet with 227,000 square feet of retail leased. Midtown West came in second with 163,155 square feet. [NYP] — Kathryn Brenzel