Fresh off a debt restructuring with Rialto, the Chetrits have landed a new members-only club for their Soho office building.
Chetrit Organization has inked a 19,000-square-foot lease with Lightning Society to bring the cast iron building at 427 Broadway to nearly 100 percent occupancy, according to a release.
“We anticipate their presence will activate and shape a new chapter of cultural life in Soho,” said Michael Chetrit of the Chetrit Organization in a statement.
Chetrit Organization, led by Michael and Juda Chetrit, recently reworked its $76.5 million loan backed by 459 Broadway and 427 Broadway with Rialto.
The developer had previously fallen behind on payments and the loan went into special servicing, but the Chetrits inked a three-year loan extension with the notoriously tough loan servicer Rialto in April.
Lightning Society, a new membership club, claims it is led by a team of executives hailing from WeWork, Soho House and Burning Man. Membership applications will open prior to a winter 2025 launch.
Lightning Society said it seeks to “co-create culture through participatory events, artistic expression, and shared purpose.”
In a 2019 interview, Timothy Alexander Phillips, one of Lightning Society’s founders, said, “The thing that actually led me to start Lightning Society was that during that first trip to Burning Man, I discovered community.”
This new Lightning Society space — its first permanent location — will include a tea house and “listening room” among other amenities.
The new lease marks a turnaround for 427 Broadway. The building lost a key tenant after American Apparel filed for bankruptcy in 2017 and closed its 13,000-square-foot store. But both 427 Broadway and nearby 459 Broadway reached full occupancy in 2019, only for the pandemic to ravage occupancy back to 33 percent. Though occupancy rose, the loan still landed in special servicing in 2023.
Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities loans are required to go through special servicing in order to restructure.
In May, K-pop record label Hello82 leased 6,900 square feet for the ground floor space at 427 Broadway, according to the Commercial Observer. The lease replaces the marijuana museum The House of Cannabis.
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