Ikea Buys Nike Store in SoHo for $213M

Home furnishings giant Ikea has purchased the huge Nike flagship store at 529 Broadway at the corner of Spring Street in SoHo for $213 million.

Sports apparel omnipresence Nike opened its store in 2016 in what was then a newly developed location of around 61,000 square feet over several floors. The lease was originally signed in 2013. It is unclear when Nike’s lease on the space ends, or if the retailer picked up or passed on any renewal options.

The store was developed by a quartet of prominent retail real estate investors: Jeff Sutton’s Wharton Properties, A&H Acquisitions, Bobby Cayre’s Aurora Capital Associates and Joseph Sitt’s Thor Equities. The investors bought the site in December 2012 for $146.9 million from the Goldstein family  .

The group’s original $100 million construction loan from Deutsche Bank was replaced by a Morgan Stanley/UBS financing for $195 million that was quickly assigned to U.K.-based insurer Rothesay Life. The loan was marketed by Eastdil in 2022 with a 3.42 percent fixed-rate coupon. But, with rising bank interest rates, it looks like there were no takers, and no public documents show that the loan was ever sold.

The loan was to mature in September, and the Ikea deed was signed in the middle of the Jewish holidays on Sept. 26 by Sutton and was posted to public deeds on Sept. 30. 

Nike’s top-of-the-market rent started at $1,600 per square foot, or $16 million per year, as Commercial Observer reported in 2015.

Ikea has made bold moves over the last year as it invested in and leased 70,000 square feet in the base of Extell’s upgoing tower at 570 Fifth Avenue.

On Sept. 18, it announced that its Inter Ikea Group CEO Jon Abrahamsson Ring was stepping down on Jan. 1, and that Jakub Jankowski, current managing director for Ikea Industry, will succeed him. The sale also follows a trend of major retail sales in New York City, including in SoHo. 

None of the parties involved in the Nike-Ikea deal returned requests for comment.