Mixed Use – Wunderkid SoHo-Bound

WUNDERKID SOHO-BOUND

Fashion-design darling Richard Chai just inked a deal for new Soho digs, leasing a floor of loft space in the eight-story building at 107 Grand St.

Chai, a Marc Jacobs protégé and Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation winner, will take over 8,600 square feet, comprising the entire seventh floor of the building at Grand and Mercer Sts. Asking prices were in the $60-per-square-foot range, according to Sinvin Realty, which arranged for the 10-year lease.

The young designer “hit his stride this season” after gigging for Jacobs and Donna Karan, introducing his eponymous line in 2004 and expanding every year since, according to a high-ranking fashion editor and source close to Mixed Use. The designer most recently struck a deal with Target’s GO International collection to design for the retail giant.

“He has an Uptown feel with a Downtown edge,” the editor noted, making the location in the 1915 building’s “sun-washed loft space … an ideal home for a creative company like Richard Chai,” said Sinvin broker CHRISTOPHER OWLES.
Sinvin’s Owles and MICHAEL GLANZBERG represented the landlord, Man Yun Real Estate Corp., in the deal. The lease was guaranteed for Chai by SK Networks, overseers of businesses including manufacturing and distributing for designers Tommy Hilfiger and Donna Karan. Chai was represented in the transaction by Esther Zar of Metro Spire, LLC.