NYC seafood bastion Lure Fishbar faces boot from pushy Prada: sources
Beloved Soho seafood staple Lure Fishbar will likely get the hook when its lease expires — because luxury retailer Prada has its sights set on the prized location, The Post has learned.
The Milan-based company wants to boot Lure from its underground space at the corner of Prince Street — where it has been for two decades — and replace it with a Prada-branded bakery and cafe, sources said.
It’s “all but a done deal. Prada has four times more space than Lure, and [landlord] Peter Brant isn’t likely to say no,” one prominent broker who is not involved at the location told The Post.
Prada, which has been aggressively expanding in the US, already leases about 20,000 square feet in the 176,000 square-foot office and retail building between Broadway and Mercer Street.
Lure Fishbar’s lease on its 5,000 square feet expires in early 2026.
The expected arrivederci comes after the company, with annual revenue of $4.2 billion, recently purchased 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 in their way,” the broker said.
Brant, the investor and art patron who’s married to supermodel Stephanie Seymour, owns the building’s long-term leasehold. It wasn’t known whether Brant has told Lure its sublease won’t be renewed.
Blogger Emily Sundberg posted on the FeedMe newsletter site Friday about “a rumor . . . that Prada was taking over the Lure Fishbar location.”
She wrote she received a text that “confirmed this rumor.”
Lure owner John McDonald told The Post on Monday that he was unaware of the Prada buzz.
“I would hope that if they take over the entire building, they would want to keep Lure Fishbar given its long-standing history and role in Soho for more than 20 years,” he said.
Sources said the restaurant pays nearly $2 million a year in rent, a remarkable number for a space entirely in the basement, reached by an outdoor metal staircase on the building’s Mercer Street side.
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 spokesman Nikolas Pankau.
Lure Fishbar has been one of the city’s most popular seafood eateries since it opened in the heart of Soho in 2004.
Time Out NY recently named it the No. 1 best Soho restaurant and Thrillist called it “the Balthazar of the sea.” Lure chef Preston Clark was named by the 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, an NYU professor of urban policy and planning. Moss, a frequent customer, said, “Lure is more than a restaurant. It’s the connective tissue that ties people from all sectors of city together.”
He added, “Prada is a global brand with no local roots. Lure is the opposite. They complement each other and no one gains if Prada pushes Lure out. Prada would be resented and diminished.”
