One of Bleecker Street's most recognizable stretches, home to Le Poisson Rouge and a CVS, has a new landlord. Acram Group has acquired the retail condominium spanning the blockfront at 156-168 Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village, paying roughly $21.25 million in an REO deal for the property known as The Atrium. The asset combines about 27,500 square feet of retail with a small residential unit and features long-running neighborhood staples, a setup that investors hungry for stable Manhattan retail are still willing to pay for.
Deal details
Acram paid about $21.25 million, or approximately $772 per square foot, for the condo unit, which, according to CoStar, traded as an REO transaction. The sale appeared on broker listings and in public property records in mid March before closing this month.
Buyer, seller and brokers
The seller was LNR Partners, a commercial mortgage special servicer, and the buyer was Greenwich, Conn.-based Acram Group, as reported by Commercial Observer. Marcus & Millichap and Mission Capital represented LNR and also brought Acram to the table, according to that coverage, with brokers noting that CVS recently extended its lease at the property.
The retail condominium spans the entire Bleecker Street blockfront between Thompson and Sullivan streets, catching heavy foot traffic flowing to and from NYU and Washington Square Park.
Tenants and cash flow
Broker materials peg the asset at roughly 27,541 square feet in total, comprising eight retail units plus a 789 square foot residential unit, and show it was about 79 percent leased at the time of sale, according to a press release from Marcus & Millichap. "The property's secure and stable long-term tenants provide the buyer with strong cash flow," Eric Anton of Marcus & Millichap said in that release.
Le Poisson Rouge's basement footprint and the CVS store were highlighted as key anchors that helped underwrite buyer interest and support the income story for Acram.
Why it matters for the Village
The building, which opened as Mills House No. 1 and later hosted the famed Village Gate, carries a cultural history that brokers say can be a magnet for tenants even as it makes repositioning trickier, according to Commercial Observer. With established anchors like Le Poisson Rouge and CVS in place, brokers see upside in leasing the remaining vacancies and re-merchandising the storefronts to inch rents closer to prevailing market levels.
For Greenwich Village, the deal signals that investors still prize full-block retail with visible frontage and steady cash flow. The combination of in-place income and the opportunity to lease up vacant space was a key part of the pitch that got the transaction over the finish line, according to Marcus & Millichap. Market watchers will now be looking to see whether Acram puts money into upgrades or simply sticks with the building's long-standing mix of entertainment and neighborhood-serving tenants.
