Commercial real estate services firm Newmark recently announced that it had arranged a $127 million loan from Citigroup and Société Générale as refinancing for the iconic Manhattan building at 575 Broadway.

The mixed-use property includes nearly 95,000 square feet of rentable SoHo office space and more than 33,000 square feet of premium downtown Manhattan retail space. Located on the corner of Broadway and Prince Street, 575 Broadway has long been a highly desirable destination for both retail and office tenants. It’s currently home to marquee tenants like Estee Lauder, H&M, Prada and Lure Fishbar, one of the most popular restaurants in New York City.

Notably, Prada’s New York City flagship store has been situated here since 2001. Designed by renowned Dutch architect and urbanist Rem Koolhaas, the space makes for a particularly experiential location by incorporating unique design elements, such as a glass shaft elevator. Likewise, an exotic, zebrawood floor undulates in a steep wave in lieu of stairs to connect the two levels that the store occupies.

140 Years at the Best Corner in SoHo

Originally built in the early 1880s by John Jacob Astor at a time when the corridor was already an established destination for expensive hotels and high-brow shopping, 575 Broadway was carefully designed by architect Thomas Stent in the “commercial palace” style.

The ground floor retail space was first home to marketing visionaries Rogers, Peet & Co. — a men’s and boy’s clothing store. Meanwhile, the upper floors were mostly occupied by hat dealers, including Frank F. Hodges & Co., Thomas H. Wood & Co., Hirsch & Park, and H. O. Bernard Manufacturing Co. Then, approximately 100 years after it opened, the building was painstakingly restored and redesigned by architect Arata Isozaki to become the home of the Guggenheim Museum SoHo, which occupied the space for 10 years.

In 2001, luxury fashion brand Prada took over the first floor, complementing the fine arts selection that the Guggenheim was still hosting in the remaining space of the building.

Economic Recovery Lifts Retail Scene

According to recent reporting by the New York Business Journal, SoHo has seen a notable increase in its density of experiential retail throughout the last few years. In turn, this has attracted both visiting crowds and big brands looking to establish a presence in the neighborhood.

The recent resurgence of the New York City retail scene has included Vancouver-based retailer Herschel Supply, which signed a 4,000-square-foot lease for a brick-and-mortar store at 543 Broadway. Similarly, New York apparel favorite Timberland inked a deal for 6,000 square feet of retail space at 550 Broadway (as first reported by the Commercial Observer).