A six-story mixed-use building on the Soho-Little Italy border and near the Mondrian Hotel closed for $21 million yesterday.
The new owners are planning on gutting the century-old building at
167-177 Lafayette Street and Grand Street. Eastern Consolidated, which
represented the seller, said in a marketing document that the building
has several unauthorized subletters because tenants were “subleasing
space at will, likely at a substantial profit.” No leases at the
building extend beyond 2009.
One former tenant was evicted by the city because it allegedly manufactured illegal handbags on-site.
The 35,287-square-foot edifice, sold by Edwin Bass, has about 5,500
square feet of retail space on the bottom floors and small offices
upstairs.
“It’s a great office building,” said Ronald Solarz, an Eastern
Consolidated executive director who teamed with executive director Eric
Anton on the deal. “Architecturally it’s very pretty.”
Eastern Consolidated said it also financed the June sale of the
Mondrian Hotel at 150 Lafayette Street, near the building that sold
yesterday.
The building at 167-177 Lafayette Street has not undergone renovations
in more than 20 years, and could be reconfigured for larger tenants.
“It just needs some TLC — a lot of TLC,” Solarz said.
Rents will likely be $50 or more per square foot. Prime Soho rents are as high as $65 a foot.