Lightstone Gets Into Shared Space Retail Game With Soho Deal
By Terence Cullen October 25, 2016 5:45 pm
reprints
Call it coworking for e-commerce.
Lightstone Group has signed a 10,000-square-foot lease at 375 West Broadway, where it will open a shared space for online retailers to sell their goods, according to a press release from the company.
Called “bio” and set to open at the beginning of next year, the Soho site will be home to about 30 brands that specialize in beauty, fashion and home goods, the release indicates. There will also be a bar and café managed by the folks behind Jack’s Wife Freda—a bistro that has two locations in the posh retail-focused neighborhood.
“bio acknowledges that many of the most inspired companies do not yet have the resources to support their own storefront, but want something more lasting than a pop-up,” Lightstone President Mitchell Hochberg said in prepared remarks. “bio offers a new framework where brands have the opportunity to animate their own modal shop displays within a unified design-driven environment.”
Hochberg added that the retailers would have in-house staff to help grow the brands, along with access to analytics technology.
Lightstone signed a 10-year lease for the space, according to The Wall Street Journal, which first reported news of the deal. Asking rent in the deal was not available.
It wasn’t immediately clear if brokers were involved in the transaction, and a spokeswoman for the retail program did not comment right away. RKF is listed as the marketing agent for the Pearlmark Investment Advisors space; a spokeswoman for the brokerage did not immediately return a request for comment.
