City Urban Realty snapped up one of Soho’s last blank canvases.
Michael Alvandi’s firm paid $14 million for a vacant corner lot at 144 Spring Street in an off-market deal, The Real Deal has learned. The price is a steep discount from the $24.7 million that Travelzoo founder Ralph Bartel paid for the property in 2012.
Bartel had plans to build a glassy Minimalist box with two soaring stories on the corner of Spring and Wooster streets, according to filings with the city department of buildings. But those plans, seemingly for a high-end retail concept, never materialized and the lot has remained vacant since a fire destroyed the building that stood there in the early 1900s. Before Bartel purchased the lot, the site was used for decades as a popular flea market in the neighborhood.
The 1,600-square-foot property sits directly across from Chanel’s downtown flagship and shares a block with luxury retail neighbors Celine and Gucci. The buyer can build up to four floors, according to marketing materials from Lantern Real Estate Advisors, whose Matthew Seigel and Tal Bar-or brokered the deal.
Manhattan-based City Urban did not disclose its plans for the property, but the firm is well-versed in ground-up development. For example, the firm has been an active developer in popular neighborhoods like Williamsburg. There, it developed 95 North 6th Street, which was later leased to Abercrombie, and 97 North 6th Street, where Lululemon came on as a tenant.
The acquisition adds to a recent string of Soho buys by City Urban over the past six months. The firm has closed on retail condominium units at 182 Spring Street for $5.6 million and 386 West Broadway for $5.9 million.
Representatives for City Urban did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Bartel could also not be reached for comment.
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