London Nightclub Operator Buys 675 Hudson Street for $100M

After unveiling plans for a rooftop nightclub at the 14th Street Triangle, London-based club venue operator Caprice Holdings has bought the property for $100 million, according to property records made public Tuesday.

Robert Cayre’s Aurora Capital Associates sold the five-story building at 675 Hudson Street to Caprice, which plans to alter the 19th century property — if the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) signs off on the work — and turn it into the New York location for a private club known in London as Annabel’s.

The buyer’s address on the deed in property records is tied to Caprice, which is a sister brand of Annabel’s. Both brands were previously under British businessman Richard Caring‘s hospitality empire, but were acquired by Abu Dhabi-based firm DIAFA earlier this year.

Caprice secured $165 million in financing from HSBC for its new purchase, according to property records. Aurora acquired the Meatpacking District property in a 2023 bargain sale for $50 million, a deed transfer indicates.

It’s unclear who brokered the sale. Aurora and Caprice did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

A previous LPC hearing saw agency officials express reservations about the rooftop addition to the landmarked Hudson Street property, stating that the proposed curved glass structure designed by BKSK Architects did not match the character of the building.

Comments in the margins of the latest presentation to the LPC recommend that the new owners “improve [the] design relationship between rooftop addition and underlying historic building.” Other comments noted that a “curvilinear form of rooftop addition is fighting geometry of historic building; scale should be reduced.”

675 Hudson is also known as the Herring Building. Construction began in 1849 with further additions throughout the next half century, and it originally served as a factory making masonry supplies.

Mark Hallum can be reached at mhallum@commercialobserver.com.