Puck Building spurs retail flood along Lafayette Street

The emergence of Kushner Companies’ Puck Building at 295 Lafayette Street, where one unit is apparently in contract for $27.5 million, has spurred a posh commercial renaissance in the immediate area.

Joe Neidich, former managing director of the Standard Hotel’s Boom Boom Room, launched his Scandinavian eatery Acme at 9 Great Jones Street, along with partners Jean-Marc Hournard of Indochine and Mads Refslund of Copenhagen’s Noma restaurant. And outdoor store REI recently snagged 39,000 square feet on the Puck Building’s ground floor in a deal brokered by SCG Retail, which also works with Whole Foods, noted the Wall Street Journal.

Two La Colombe and Gasoline Alley coffee shops have also popped up along Lafayette, as well as clothing retailers Slave Khaki United, Brooklyn Industries, Supreme, American Apparel and Odin.

The existing retailers, eateries and coffee shops have even more company on the way, with Italian restaurant Sant Ambroeus and French jeweler Aurelie Bidermann soon to open at 265 Lafayette Street, and Dutch cosmetics company Rituals slated for 231 Lafayette Street.

“Food came first, because it’s relatively cheap and easy,” said David Firestein, SCG Retail’s managing partner, who said he brokered every Starbucks deal in Manhattan since 1994. “Now we’re seeing the next wave: the retail.” [WSJ] — Julie Strickland