“Legal extortion”: Real estate scion clings onto starving-artist rent at Soho loft

The classic Soho loft drama begins in the 1970s with artists moving into buildings that no one else wants. Then the neighborhood gentrifies, and the artists battle real estate professionals trying to oust them from properties that have become extremely valuable. That story is playing out at 36 Greene Street, but with an ironic twist: The holdout renter, Alexander Riguardi, isn’t a peer of Patti Smith but a commercial real estate broker who arrived five years ago. The landlords seeking to oust him were the original tenants. Riguardi is the son of Peter Riguardi, JLL’s New York region chairman and […] This article originally appeared on The Real Deal. Click here to read the full story.