$50M Ground Lease for Lighting by Gregory Property on the Bowery
The Bowery lighting district is again in the spotlight due to real estate speculation. Something big is coming.
Word came down the pike this week that Real Estate Equities Corp. signed a 100-year ground lease on the assemblage of 156-166 Bowery, the spot occupied until two years ago by Lighting by Gregory. Property records show that the development firm, which specializes in large-scale office and residential towers, forked over $50 million to landowner Kingsmen Property Group.
Expect demolition and new construction here in the coming months. With the caveat that the parcels reside in the Special Little Italy District, a zoning designation which caps building heights at 85 feet.
So far, though, no paperwork or permits have been filed with the Department of Buildings.
Kinsmen purchased the Bowery property in October 2018 from Lighting by Gregory owner Joel Horowitz for $30 million. The store had been open here – between Broome and Kenmare Streets – for four decades. It had been an institution on the Lower East Side, and purportedly one of the oldest designer lighting shops in town.
[h/t Upper West Sider]
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