West Broadway booms as retail rents skyrocket

West Broadway, an area of Soho that lagged behind its hipper neighbors in terms of retail leases and building upgrades, is finally having its day.

Rising price tags on Mercer Street between Prince and Houston streets are partly to thank. As rents climb to around $500 per square foot on Mercer and Greene streets and over $1,000 on Prince and Spring, luxury brands are eyeing West Broadway with renewed interest.

“Retailers took notice and quickly followed the pioneers like a herd of stampeding buffalo,” Jared Epstein, Aurora Capital’s vice president of leasing and acquisitions, told the New York Post. “West Broadway has finally been its revival due to the fact that it is now the least expensive option in Soho for retailers.”

Among the recent deals are Joseph Sitt’s Thor Equities is in contract to pick up 452 West Broadway for $6 million, Yogurt shop Chobani is doubling the size of its spread at 150 Prince Street, an address that doubles as 436 West Broadway, and Town Residential has inked a deal for office space at 337 Prince Street. And No. 426 will soon be up for grabs with an asking rent of $300 per square foot, after Max Studio’s lease for the space is up in February.

“The street is a puzzle and is finally starting to take shape,” Christopher Owles of Sinvin Real Estate told the Post. [NYP] — Julie Strickland