11 Spring Street, the Nolita ice palace on the corner of Elizabeth, has long been one of our signature New York City real estate obsessions. Quietly dormant for decades, save for candles and curtains positioned just so in every window, it passed to Post scion Lachlan Murdoch back in 2003 for $5.25 million, a price that strikes us now (even as it did then) as a steal.
Flash forward two autumns: Murdoch, after calling in the cranes for preliminary gut work last fall, has let the project fall dormant, which led us to speculate that an ownership change was in the air at 11 Spring. Comes Intelligencer this week to confirm that fact. The column also notes that Murdoch has found an (Italian playboy) renter for his 3,555sqft Laight Street loft in Tribeca (perhaps similar to this groovy pad?), but offers no word about the future of 11 Spring, post-Lachlan.
And so Lachlan leaves Nolita worse for his short wear, iconic candles and curtains gone and one window on the facade shaded in plywood. (Give him credit, though, for not disrupting the famous street art displays.) What next for this wondrous spot? If you're hearing whispers, drop us a line. If we're not first on this story, we're going to hate ourselves for at least two days.
· Lachlan Ties Up Real Estate Loose Ends [Intelligencer]
· 11 Spring Street: Murdoch on the Outs [Curbed]