Fashion Platform Arete Studios to Open at Penn South Capital’s 116 Suffolk Street

Arete Studios, a global fashion platform for sourcing and promoting up-and-coming designers, is coming to Manhattan’s Lower East Side.

Arete signed a 10-year, 2,500-square-foot lease at Penn South Capital’s 116 Suffolk Street, according to landlord broker Meridian Retail Leasing. Asking rent was $100 per square foot.

Noam Aziz, Carson Shahrabani and Max Freudenberger from Meridian represented the landlord in the deal. Penn South Capital bought the five-story residential and retail building between Delancey and Rivington streets in 2019 for $5.5 million, property records show.

“The Lower East Side continues to attract tenants with a real point of view,” Aziz said in a statement. “Arete Studios isn’t a typical retail play; they’re building something around community and craft, and this neighborhood fits that. We’re seeing more operators like them look downtown for space, and the deals are getting done.”

Max Swerdloff and Isabel Krajovan from Alvarez & Marsal Property Solutionsrepresented Arete Studios in this lease.

Krajovan and Swerdloff declined Commercial Observer’s request for comment, while Arete Studios could not be reached for comment. 

Arete Studios was founded in 2023 by business partners Kotryna Jukneviciute and MJ Perez. The platform combines fashion and technology to help independent designers find their shoppers, with a mission to “globalize fashion discovery while building a community that celebrates the real creatives in fashion,” according to its website.

“We champion intentional production, localized supply chains, and direct connections between shoppers and designers,” Arete Studios wrote on its website. The site lists a current address for Arete of 149 Grand Street, less than a mile from 116 Suffolk Street. It’s unclear if its new deal represents a relocation.

The bookstore Bluestockings Cooperative, now closed, appears to have been the previous tenant at 116 Suffolk Street.

Other retailers that have decided to call the Lower East Side home in the last year include pizza shop NYC Thin Crust Pizza at 261 Bowery and vintage hip-hop apparel store In Vintage We Trust at 105 Rivington Street.