Soho seafood darling Lure Fishbar is likely to be off the hook when its lease expires — because luxury retailer Prada has its eye on the prized location, The Post has learned.
The Milan-based company wants to replace Lure in the space that has been its home for two decades at the corner of Lafayette and Prince streets, where its lease expires soon, with a Prada-branded cafe, the sources said.
It’s all but a done deal. Prada has four times more space than Lure, and [landlord] Peter Brant is not likely to say no,” a prominent broker not involved in the location told The Post.
Prada, which has been expanding aggressively in the U.S., has already leased about 20,000 square feet in the 176,000-square-foot office and retail building between Broadway and Mercer Street.
Lure Fishbar’s 5,000-square-foot lease expires in early 2026.
The expected arrival comes after the company, with annual revenue of $4.2 billion, recently bought the Fifth Avenue sites of its flagship store from Jeff Sutton for a combined $835 million, as The Post previously reported.
“They want the same kind of control over their Soho space and Lure is right up their alley,” the broker said.
Brant, the art investor and patron who is married to supermodel Stephanie Seymour, owns the building’s long-term lease. It was not known if Brant told Lure that her sublease would not be renewed.
Blogger Emily Sundberg posted Friday on the FeedMe newsletter site about “a rumor . . . that Prada was taking over the Lure Fishbar location.”
She wrote that she received a text that “confirmed this rumour”.
Lure owner John McDonald told The Post on Monday that he was not aware of the Prada fuss.
“I would hope that if they take over the whole building, they would want to keep the Lure Fishbar given its long history and role in Soho for over 20 years,” he said.
Sources said the restaurant pays about $2 million a year in rent, an extraordinary number for an entirely basement space reached by an exterior metal staircase on the Mercer Street side of the building.
None of the players involved responded to requests for clarification and comment, including the Peter Brant Foundation; Prada USA Retail Director Carlo Croso; and Prada spokesperson Nikolas Pankau.
Lure Fishbar has been one of the city’s most popular seafood restaurants since it opened in the heart of Soho in 2004.
Time Out NY recently named him the no. 1 Best Soho Restaurant and Thrillist called it the “Balthazar of the Sea.” Lure chef Preston Clark was named by NYC Tourism + Conventions, the city’s official tourism agency, as “one of the black chefs shaking up the NYC food scene.”
Among Lure’s fans is Mitchell Moss, a professor of urban policy and planning at NYU. Moss, a frequent customer, said, “Lure is more than a restaurant. It’s the connective tissue that connects people from all sectors of the city.”
He added, “Prada is a global brand with no local roots. Lure is the opposite. They complement each other and nobody wins if Prada pushes Lure out. Prada would get angry and shrink.”
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