Rubenstein-backed Declaration Partners signs long-term lease valued at $50.1M for SoHo retail

The David M. Rubenstein-backed fund Declaration Partners through the entity Soho Retail Owner Tenant LLC as tenant signed a long-term lease valued at $50.1 million with the landlord, an entity called SDC Tri-Prince LLC, for three retail cooperative units in the 16-unit residential elevator building (D0) that has the addresses 113, 117, 119 and 121 Prince Street in SoHo, Manhattan. The expected use is cash flowing.
The lease was signed October 28, 2025, the memorandum of lease started on December 10, 2025, and the memorandum was recorded on December 29, 2025.
The signatory for the landlord, SDC Tri-Prince LLC, which is an affiliate of art collector, Charles W. Leslie was Rocco L. Buonpane .
This is a 25-year lease with an option to extend to extend to 2091, which would make it a 66-year lease. The lease is dated Oct 28, 2025 but took effect Dec. 10, 2025. Development Partners has a right of first refusal, as well.
Declaration Partners is a private investment firm founded in 2017 and based on the family office of Carlyle Group founder David M. Rubenstein, and invests for other family offices and institutional firms.

Charles W. Leslie’s late-partner Fritz Lohman in 1971 signed as President of the entity Soho Development Corp., an owner of the property. Buonpane, on behalf of Soho Development Corp. transferred the retail assets in a no-consideration transaction, to SDC Tri-Prince LLC.

Partners Charles Leslie and Fritz Lohman (J. Fredric Lohman, who died in 2009) founded what is now the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, which was the first gay art space in New York, and is now located at 26 Wooster Street.

Prior sales, articles and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Declaration Partners had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Charles W. Leslie had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period. The former owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Hchristopher Luce, head officer and Rosemary Nash, head officer. The business entity is Tri-Prince, Inc. The three properties with a total of 49,170 square feet of built space generated revenue of $3.1 million per year or $63 per square foot. The sale price per square foot was $1,019.

The property

The residential elevator building with 16 residential units in SoHo has 49,170 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 99 feet and is 95 feet deep with a total lot size of 9,453 square feet. The zoning is M1-5/R7X which allows for up to 5 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing and up to 5 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The property is in the SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $15.8 million.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the properties for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have received $50 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

There are no active new building construction projects or major alteration projects with initial costs more than $1 million on this tax lot.

The block

On the tax block of 121 Prince Street, PincusCo has identified the owners of three of the seven commercial properties representing 26,382 square feet of the 68,462 square feet. The two identified owners are Debra Kalimian and Premier Equities.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 47 percent of the 68,462 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 31 percent of the space.

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