A six-story SoHo building that once hosted the Canal Street Market at 261–267 Canal Street has changed hands for $36 million, marking a major move on one of downtown’s busiest corridors between Broadway and Lafayette Street. The cast-iron property spans a bit more than 100,000 square feet, making it a sizable presence on the block.
Sale details
According to Crain's New York Business, a group of buyers picked up the building for $36 million. Commercial listings and public records put the structure at roughly 103,047 square feet, which works out to about $350 per square foot, per PropertyShark.
From food hall to ownership change
The building’s ground floor previously housed Canal Street Market, a food hall that shut down in late 2024 amid broader pressure on Manhattan food-hall concepts. That broader shake-out in the food-hall scene was chronicled in coverage of the Manhattan food hall shake-up. Earlier reporting by Eater detailed the market’s rise and the role of founder Philip Chong in its early years.
Why buyers might be interested
Investors picking up older Manhattan office buildings are often weighing a familiar menu of options: keep the property as offices, overhaul the retail lineup at street level, or pursue a conversion to housing. That last option has gained real momentum. Nationwide, office-to-residential conversions are surging in 2026, with tens of thousands of apartments in the pipeline, according to Multifamily Executive citing RentCafe research.
Local records show the Canal Street property has carried heavy debt in the recent past. HCRE Hung & Chong Real Estate recorded a $60.9 million borrowing on the building in 2020, according to filings summarized by PincusCo.
What comes next
The new owners have not yet tipped their hand. It is unclear whether they will keep the property focused on offices, carve up floors for smaller tenants, or explore a conversion. Permit applications and transfer filings in the weeks ahead should give a clearer picture.
For nearby small businesses and neighbors who once relied on Canal Street Market’s steady stream of visitors, the sale is another chapter in SoHo’s slow reshuffling of retail and office space, with one more big building in play on a corridor that is still figuring out its post-pandemic identity.
