SoHo Nike Store Opens Despite Community's Objections

SOHO, NY — Sneaker fans flocked to SoHo for the grand opening of Nike's new, five-story store on Friday, just days after community members protested in front of the store at 529 Broadway because it was said to exceed the neighborhood's 10,000-square-foot limit for retail stores.

Residents and elected officials — including City Council Member Margaret Chin and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer — publicly called out the Department of Buildings (DOB) for approving the store when it was said to be out of compliance. Protesters said developers took advantage of a loophole by instead calling the project an "alteration" instead of a newly constructed building.

The DOB says otherwise, telling Patch on Friday that the building, which it says is 44,000 square feet, is in compliance because it was a "major alteration of an existing building under the 2008 code," which allows the building to be grandfathered in without limitations on square footage.

Local politicians have not gone down quietly.

"NIKE store does not have a proper DOB permit," Brewer said in a Facebook post on Friday, just hours before the store opened its doors for the first time. "Why are they allowed to open?"

Alteration permits require the building to be at least 50 percent intact from its previous state; a DOB spokesperson told Patch that 50 percent or more of the building did, in fact, remain, but protesters said the DOB simply left up part of a wall.

The DOB spokesperson told Patch that "based upon the code and zoning it was approved under," a special permit was not required.

"The project was reviewed numerous times, as well as audited in April of 2015, and it was determined that the plans submitted complied with the NYC Construction Codes and Zoning Resolution," the DOB concluded.

On Twitter, Nike provided a glimpse into its new store:

The area surrounding the store was totally mobbed on Friday:

Chin did not immediately respond to a request for a comment.

Lead photo via Gale Brewer