SoHo

Apartments & Real Estate

There are very few rental buildings in the area (i.e. buildings where mere mortals can rent an apartment), but they do exist - mostly on the western side of SoHo, along Sixth Avenue. Apartments in these buildings (typically constructed around 1900) are not lofts, but at least they exist and allow the lucky less-than millionaires to live in the neighborhood.

As for the rest of SoHo, it consists mostly of magnificent loft buildings, typically with a commerical ground floor and between two and four floors of lofts apartments (often undivided floor-throughs) above.

Given the scarcity of empty lots and the landmark status of most loft buildings, new construction is rare. But with SoHo representing one of the most desirable neighborhoods for real estate developers, the occasional condo project does get realized (one of the recent examples is Jean Nouvel's 40 Mercer Street).

Selected Rental Buildings

• 128 Thompson Street (SoHo) {1 available apt}
  A low-rise walk-up building.
• 170-176 Spring Street (SoHo)
  A low-rise walk-up building.
• 25 Thompson Street (SoHo) {3 available apts}
  A low-rise walk-up building.
• 26 Grand Street (SoHo)
  A low-rise walk-up building.
• 98 Thompson Street (SoHo) {1 available apt}
  A low-rise walk-up building.

See all SoHo Rental Apartment Buildings (21 buildings)

Selected No-Fee Rental Listings

• $2,421 2-Bedroom at 128 Thompson Street posted 02/Nov/2009.
• $5,200 1-Bedroom at 25 West Houston Street available 07/Nov/2009 posted 27/Oct/2009.

See all SoHo No Fee Rental Apartments (6 total)

Condo & Co-op Buildings

• new! 25 West Houston Street (SoHo) {1 available apt}
  A mid-rise red brick condo building built in 2004.
• 40 Mercer Street (SoHo)
  A mid-rise luxury condo building designed by Jean Nouvel built in 2007.
• Soho Mews (311 West Broadway, SoHo)
  Two-building project measuring 175,000 s/f that consists of a 9-story structure facing West Broadway and an 8-story one facing Wooster Street. A shared yard is between them.

See all SoHo Condo Apartment Buildings (10 buildings)

• 2 Charlton Street (SoHo)
  A post-war mid-rise doorman elevator building.
• 57 Thompson Street (SoHo)
  A low-rise elevator building.

See our list of SoHo Co-op Apartment Buildings

Historical Notes

People inhabiting SoHo in the 60's, 70's and 80's were artists attracted by large and vacant industrial spaces (good for hanging your paintings, you know). They squatted in empty buildings and since in the 60's pretty much all buildings here were empty, they gradually filled the neighborhood. This was in violation of the zoning code in effect.

In the end, many artists were granted the right to stay by negotiating a deal with the city and the landlords whereby they bought out their illegally occupied spaces for what very soon would seem an absurdly low price. This was done under the "Artists in Residence" program.

In the early 1970's SoHo was designated a historic district and gentrification began in earnest.

The 1970's and 1980's saw the peak of artistic activity in the area. Most of the city's modern art galleries were located in SoHo during those decades. Some hired world-famous architects to design their interiors.

But the late 1980's and the 1990's brought so many retailers to the area that the whole neighborhood started resembling a gigantic open-air shopping mall. Art galleries have started to move out (mostly to Chelsea and, to a lesser extent and somewhat later, to Williamsburg).

It'd be fair to say that the era of commercialisation of SoHo continues today. All real estate projects that get realized in SoHo are of luxury variety and low-cost establishments (stores and restaurants) have all but disappeared.

News and Updates

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