Yes, this reminds me of 190 Bowery, a building in NYC that some photographer bought for $102k back in the 70s. He finally caved in though selling it for $55m in 2014. https://ny.curbed.com/2019/7/31/20732103/jay-myself-document...
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/jaymyself
I did Jay's workshop back in the 90's. He completely changed the way I look at photography and I was an assistant to Ansel Adams primary printer.
I worked a block away in 2017-8, when the street-level floors housed retailer Totokaelo (RIP). I'd go window shopping just to be able to explore it a bit.
The basement held a giant vault, converted to shoe merchandising duty [1] … an apt commentary in the late aughts (and now, for that matter).
[1] https://i1.wp.com/gothamtogo.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/... via https://gothamtogo.com/germania-bank-building-190-bowery-is-...