Report: Ben Shaoul In Contract to Buy Corner of Orchard and East Houston
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Tons of real estate news during this holiday week. The latest will probably piss off a whole bunch of people.
A tipster sends along an unconfirmed dispatch that one of the last one-story strips on the Lower East Side is in imminent danger. We’re talking about the decimated northeast corner of Orchard and East Houston, an area already eclipsed by out-of-scale development. Now something else is allegedly brewing here…
Apparently 187 East Houston, 198 Orchard, and 196 Orchard are all under contract to controversial landlord Ben Shaoul. We are told that development of the property is likely to ensue. However, there is nothing yet on file with his company Magnum Real Estate Group, nor any DOB permits in place. Shaoul is known in these parts as the “Sledgehammer,” so it isn’t likely that he would make anything public with the locals hating him so much.
Yet if this chatter proves true, this could spell the end for Bereket, Taqueria, Ichiban Sushi, and Karaoke Boho.
Shaoul is amassing a host of Lower East Side acquisitions these days. He purchased 163 Ludlow around the corner last year for $16.5 million, and reportedly made life a living hell for the dearly departed Taylor Meade.
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