Update May 12, 1pm: Waterbridge Capital and Nordica Soho are partnering to develop 182-186 Spring Street as a 12,500-square-foot commercial building, according to Bapple CEO Nick Spanos, who put the most recent deal together.
“The billboard speaks for itself,” Spanos said. “We’re already talking to some big players.”
Soho’s 182-186 Spring development site may have a messy, “fight for your right (to demolish)” history, but it could be headed for a fresh retail start.
Waterbridge Capital is teaming up with Nordica Soho LLC to develop the site at the corner of Thompson Street. The on-site construction signage touts “Your flagship stand alone building,” indicating that the developers are shopping for a retail tenant.
The combined lot was originally slated for both condos and retail; Nordica Soho’s Stephane Boivin purchased 182 Spring in 2011 for $10.1 million, with plans for a seven-story mixed-use development, Curbed reported. Then in April 2012, Boivin acquired Beastie Boy Adam Horowitz’s townhouse next door for $5.5 million, telling The Real Deal that he was buying it “for personal use.” Several months later, Boivin filed a demolition permit for the 1824 house, with the intention to merge the lot with his neighboring project.
The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation tried to save the townhouse, citing its importance in the early LGBT rights movement. However, the Landmarks Preservation Commission said that the structure was ineligible for landmarking, and it was leveled in October 2012.
In May 2013, a Connecticut-based private equity fund named Silo Capital brought a $5.6 million foreclosure suit against Boivin, The Real Deal reported. Silo claimed that Boivin had improperly demolished 186 Spring, which had been used as collateral for a loan.
This past November, we reported that the site was placed on the market for $38 million, more than twice the approximate $15.6 million that Boivin spent to acquire the property. After about a month, 182-186 Spring went into contract in December 2013, public records show.
So what’s next for the embattled property? Public records also indicate that Acadia Realty Trust is involved with the project. The White Plains-based firm is a real estate investment trust that specializes in acquiring, developing, expanding and leasing shopping center properties; the company’s portfolio includes two buildings at 152-154 Spring Street, the former of which houses the US’s first Kate Spade Saturday store. In January 2013, Waterbridge closed on a deal to buy those two buildings for $30 million, for a total of 11,000 square feet in retail space, the Wall Street Journal reported.
