Does Prada Want to Push Out ‘Fashion’s Cafeteria’ in SoHo?

Whether or not Prada plans to take over the space that Lure Fishbar has occupied in SoHo for 20 years remains a question mark, but several forces in the fashion industry want it to stay put.

After recent reports that Prada is vying to take over Lure’s subterranean space that is in the same building that houses Pradas’s store, Lure’s owner John McDonald has been inundated by inquiries from people in the fashion industry about the situation, including some high-profile diners. Cindy Crawford, Chris Rock, John Varvatos, Nicole Miller and “so many more that are all longtime regulars are all getting very vocal about asking Prada to be a hero, not a villain to SoHo,” McDonald said.

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A Prada spokesperson declined to comment Wednesday.

“What’s so ironic is this is fashion’s cafeteria for stylists, models, photographers, the whole arc including the media and the magazine world. I would hope that Miuccia [Prada], Lorenzo Bertelli and all of these guys would want to be the preservation agents of something like this and be the hero. It’s an easy win,” McDonald said. “Even the customers at Prada are coming in and saying, ‘Tell me it isn’t true.’ It’s the de-facto cafeteria even for all of the salespeople upstairs [at Prada].”

The investor and art collector Peter Brant reportedly owns the long-term leaseholds on the building. A media request to Allison Brant at the Brant Foundation was unreturned Wednesday.

Emily Sundberg reported in her Dec. 14 “Feed Me” that the Prada-owned Pasticceria Marchesi, which dates back to 1824, could potentially take over the space. On Tuesday, the New York Post reported rumblings that Prada wants to take over Lure’s 5,000-square-foot space at the corner of Mercer and Lafayette Streets when the seafood restaurant’s lease expires in the first quarter of 2026.

McDonald said Wednesday that he knows “through very high-level sources in real estate” that Prada is taking the lease for the whole building. The company has not told McDonald “unequivocally that in 16 months” he will be kicked out, he stressed. But Prada representatives have not responded to the multiple emails that he started sending months ago, asking that Prada respect Lure as an institution, as part of New York City’s history, its longevity in SoHo and place in the community, according to McDonald.

Estimating that top-market annual leases for a basement commercial space are about $800,000, McDonald told WWD that Lure pays about $1.8 million annually. “That’s the other part of this. It’s not a matter of ‘woe-is-me I’m paying under-market rent and I can’t afford to pay market rent,’” he said.

Designer-branded restaurants have been gaining traction — and real estate — in the U.S. and in Europe. Ralph Lauren’s Polo Bar, the recently opened Armani/Ristorante on Madison Avenue, Le Cafe Louis Vuitton NYC, Dior Café and Gucci Osteria da Massimo Bottura have been reeling in reservations and sales, thanks partially to their respective brand recognition with luxury shoppers and designer fans alike. Nearly a year ago to the day Prada revealed that it had bought the building that housed its Fifth Avenue store for $425 million.

Allowing that some restaurants that are successful could be replaced, and that he’s had a few that fit that description, McDonald noted that he has been on that block for 30 years (with an assortment of businesses). Mercer’s portfolio includes Lure Fishbar New York, Lure Miami, Lure Chicago, Lever House, Chinatown Brasserie, Cha Cha Tang, Bowery Meat Company, Bar Tulix, Bistrot Leo, Butterfly, A60 Rooftop, Hancock St, Smyth Tavern and the newly opened Galerie Bar.

Kicking out Lure for a Prada Caffe or an Italian restaurant is “by no means a better outcome for New York,” McDonald claimed.

Prada debuted its SoHo store in 2001 at 575 Broadway at the corner of Prince Street, which was originally built by John Jacob Astor and designed by the architect Thomas Stent in 1882. More than a century later it housed the Guggenheim Museum’s SoHo outpost for a few years. After one of the leading architects in the world, Rem Koolhaas, redesigned Prada’s store, it became a must-see as much for its wavy wooden floor, glass cylinder elevators, and amphitheater, as for the brand’s nylon handbags and backpacks.

Koolhaas told The Washington Post in 2001, “We were worried about the incredible commercial development of SoHo. There was almost no public space left. This space can be in its entirety commercial. This entire space can also be a space for New York.”

– with contributions from Luisa Zargani

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