By Pat Savage
Wharton Properties proxy Jeff Sutton has reportedly inked a deal to buy part of the bottom floor on West 56th Street inside the retail condo at 730 Fifth Avenue.
“The twist,” notes Adam Pincus of PincusCo Media, “is that Sutton co-owns the 89,357-square-foot retail condo at 730 Fifth Avenue through a joint venture with Brookfield Asset Management. The space he has agreed to buy, containing 3,974 square feet on the ground floor and a 562 square feet on the second floor, fronts 56th Street for about 45 feet and has an address that includes 5 West 56th Street. This space abuts the retail at 720 Fifth Avenue, a building Sutton owns. The new space could be combined to increase the ground floor footprint for 720 Fifth Avenue.” There was no dollar figure announced.
“At the same time, Sutton executed a lease with Brookfield (and himself) for the same piece he intends to buy. The lease will run for 999 years, or until the parties agree to terminate it,” Pincus continued. “The contract and the lease were disclosed in city property records on Friday. Brookfield and Sutton own the retail at 730 Fifth Avenue, a condominium building with a dog-legged-shaped footprint that has frontage on Fifth Avenue as well as 57th Street and 56th Street. Sutton partnered with GGP to acquire the retail, and then Brookfield acquired GGP. Sutton did not respond to a request for comment.”
The overall retail condo, which Sutton co-owns it with Brookfield Asset Management, “spans about 89,000 square feet. He also owns the adjacent building at 720 Fifth Avenue,” noted therealdeal.com. “Retailer Abercrombie & Fitch currently occupies the retail at 720 Fifth. The apparel retailer was reported to be considering a relocation, looking at space at 680 Fifth Avenue because its lease expires soon at 720 Fifth, the New York Post reported.”
Wharton Properties, a commercial real estate company, says on its web site that it has “successfully procured and re-positioned various marquee properties throughout New York City… As a major force in the real estate community, Wharton has changed the landscape of many of the major streets in New York including the gold coast of Fifth Avenue, Times Square, 34th Street, SOHO and the Fulton Street Mall in Brooklyn to name a few. Over the past 25 years Wharton Properties has amassed over 120 buildings in prime locations throughout New York City and the tri-state area.”
