Jacobi pays $25M for Soho retail space

The retail space at the base of a luxury loft development in Soho has traded for $25 million, the broker handling the transaction told The Real Deal.

Investor Yaron Jacobi nabbed the basement and first two floors of 151 Wooster, just south of Houston, in an off-market deal, according to Matthew Marshall, of Marshall Real Estate, who brokered the transaction for both seller and buyer.

The seller was Michael Namer’s Alfa Development, which developed the 15 luxury units above the 15,200-square-foot retail component. The reason for the sale was likely to free up resources to focus on residential development, Marshall said. “Owning retail is not part of [Alfa’s] business plan,” he said.

Jacobi, an investor and sometimes-partner to billionaire real estate tycoon Ron Burkle, has made other, similar purchases in the area, such as the 13,700-square-foot condo at 57-63 Greene Street. He “saw an opportunity, probably because of [the tenants paying] under-market rent,” Marshall said.

Demand for retail condos, especially in Soho and other corridors that appeal to tourists, has been on the rise of late, as The Real Deal has reported.

“Soho is a unique market in the sense that it is so confined and defined by a few block radius,” Marshall added.

Cassina USA, an Italian furniture maker, occupies one ground-floor retail space and the commercial space on the second floor, Marshall said. The other retail space is occupied by Desiron, another furniture purveyor, whose lease will expire next year.