A few weeks back, as we walked past Nolita's legendary 11 Spring Street, we were surprised to see the garage door open (above)—a sight we'd never before seen, or even dared imagine. The building, known for years for its mysterious curtains-and-candles window displays, moved into Lachlan Murdoch's hands a few years back. Then, earlier this year, the publishing scion split for Australia and put the place on the market for $14.75 million.
Our fond hope was that another well-heeled soul would step in, buy, and fix up the place into a grand single-family residence. No such luck. A special Curbed correspondent reports this morning that the building is going condo, with construction to begin in about a month. The rumored buyer? Malcolm Stevenson by name, a man about which we know precious little (no thanks to Google). Anyone know the chap?
The good news? Apparently, there are no plans for ground floor retail, suggesting that the iconic street art displays may be allowed to stay. Or perhaps they'll just be converted into American Apparel ads.
· Listing: 11 Spring Street (SOLD) [Corcoran]
· BREAKING: Lachlan's 11 Spring Street Hits Market [Curbed]
UPDATE: The Real Estate nags that the reported buyer of 11 Spring is one Mona Gora by name.