Steven Elghanayan’s firm Epic is in contract to purchase the Soho office building that headquarters Dolce & Gabbana for twice what the current owners paid five years ago. According to the New York Post, Epic will pay Property Group close to $130 million, or $870 per square foot, for the 155,000-square-foot property at 148 Lafayette Street between, Grand and Howard streets.
Property Group, formerly the commercial arm of Louis Dreyfus Group, bought the building for $59 million, then renovated it and added a 5,187-square-foot glass penthouse. The building is now 96 percent occupied.
Elghanayn’s deal was brokered by Douglas Harmon and Adam Spies of Eastdil Secured.
The Post noted that the space has the loft-like qualities that attract the creative companies that are becoming an increasingly important part of the office market. Elghanayan, who is a cousin of the brothers behind Rockrose Development and TF Cornerstone and recently purchased a four-building portfolio from Vornado Realty Trust, acquired the building at a capitalization rate below 6 percent. [Post]