SEE ALSO: Bath & Body Works to Open 9K-SF Store in Flatiron District<\/a><\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear when Gentle Monster will arrive at 295 Lafayette Street, but it will take over a portion of the city\u2019s much-mourned REI flagship, which spanned 35,000 square feet and ceased operations in July. The leftover portion of REI\u2019s former space will be occupied by Italian restaurant Torrisi, which will expand its current 4,000-square-foot eatery at the base of the Puck Building, the source said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are incredibly excited to welcome Gentle Monster to the Puck Building,\u201d Nicole Kushner Meyer, president of Kushner, said in a statement. \u201cPuck is a special asset where heritage, modernism and culture come together, and we have been very intentional about bringing in brands and companies that share that same connection.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cGentle Monster\u2019s creativity, global perspective and approach to experiential retail make them a natural fit for the building,\u201d Meyer added. \u201cThis lease also marks an important milestone for us, completing the full transition of the Puck Building to an exceptional new generation of tenants while preserving the character and legacy that have always made it so iconic.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n While Gentle Monster\u2019s new space may seem unusually large for such a niche accessories brand, the Romanesque Revival office building may just be the eyewear maker\u2019s perfect fit. Gentle Monster\u2019s flagship stores are well known for their gallery-like designs and surrealist art installations. At the brand\u2019s current SoHo location at 70 Wooster Street, for example, shoppers are greeted with massive, hyper-realistic robotic faces.<\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear whether the Puck Building deal will prompt a relocation from the brand\u2019s current Wooster Street home.\u00a0<\/p>\n Cornelia Street Partners<\/a>\u2019 Lenny Kohlmayer and Evan Kleinberg negotiated the lease on behalf of Gentle Monster, while Ripco Real Estate<\/a>\u2019s Richard Skulnik and Lindsay Zegans repped Kushner.<\/p>\n Spokespeople for Cornelia Street Partners and Ripco did not immediately respond to requests for comment, while Gentle Monster could not be reached for comment.<\/p>\n The asking rent was not disclosed, but retail asking rents along SoHo\u2019s Prince Street averaged $1,409 per square foot in the third quarter of this year, according to CBRE data.\u00a0<\/p>\n The 10-story Puck Building\u2019s impending 35,000-square-foot vacancy was revealed last year<\/a>, when REI announced it would depart Manhattan at the end of its 15-year lease. Closures were also announced in Boston and Paramus, N.J. The Seattle-based outdoor equipment company, which operates as a consumer cooperative, did not give an exact reason for its decision.\u00a0<\/p>\n Postmortems by local outlets such as Curbed<\/a> and the New York Times<\/a> published amid the SoHo store\u2019s July closure portrayed the store as a treasured urban oasis<\/a> \u2014 a place where New Yorkers could grab discounted bike fenders, a sleeping bag for a spontaneous upstate trip, or just a few minutes of air-conditioned reprieve from Manhattan\u2019s summer heat.\u00a0<\/p>\n The next chapter of the Puck Building\u2019s retail space comes with a compelling symmetry. REI began its tenancy at the corner of East Houston Street in 2011, the very same year Gentle Monster was founded in Seoul, South Korea.\u00a0<\/p>\n Founder Hankook Kim pioneered the brand\u2019s futuristic, avant-garde style of eyeglasses and sunglasses, the prices of which range from $250 to more than $500 for special collections. The brand operates 84 stores worldwide as of 2026, according to AJP<\/a>, and is carried by hundreds of retailers.<\/p>\n Gentle Monster\u2019s future neighbors among the Puck Building\u2019s office floors above share a similar cachet. Sam Altman\u2019s artificial intelligence giant OpenAI secured a major 90,000-square-foot lease<\/a> at the building in 2024. The company\u2019s arrival followed a 30,034-square-foot deal<\/a> by U.K.-based hedge fund Quadrature, the portfolio of which is valued at a cool $11.7 billion<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"Puck](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Puck_Facade-2026-Edited2-credit-Courtesy-Kushner-Companies.jpg\" "\\"Eyewear")
Puck Building. PHOTO: Courtesy Kushner Companies<\/p>\n