When the owners of a well-known parking garage in SoHo began to explore the cast-iron building’s redevelopment, they were met with a familiar proposal: Convert it into high-priced residential condos.

Ah, the good old days. Soho. Back when four-hour lunches thrived, phone-snatching wasn’t a thing, and everyone just got mugged the vintage way—being marched to the closest bank machine, with the ...