Joseph Sitt’s Thor Equities is selling a Greene Street retail co-op in Soho for $38.5 million – more than double what the company paid for it about 18 months ago.
Sitt bought the 5,500 square-foot co-op at 138 Greene Street in July 2014 for $15.93 million, and is set to make a hefty windfall by selling it to Lucky Bhalla’s Ascot Properties.
“He didn’t do anything; he just sat and waited,” one source said of Sitt’s approach to the property.
“The market has done substantially better (since mid-2014) and with the current tenant’s [B&B Italia] lease expiring in August it’s a chance to reposition the building” Bhalla said.
Ground-floor asking rents in Soho averaged $535 per square foot in the third quarter, up nearly 14 percent year-over-year, according to Cushman & Wakefield. That’s second only to Fifth Avenue in terms of yearly growth.
Bhalla said he expects a new tenant will pay somewhere between $650 and $750 per square foot for the ground floor, and has hired Michael Glanzberg of Sinvin to market the space.
Thor still owns a sizeable portfolio on Greene Street, including the unit next door at 136 Greene, which he owns through a partnership with Jeff Sutton.
Elsewhere On The Soho Side Street, Versace signed a lease last spring for 4,300 square feet at No. 75, and Google is reportedly ditching plans to open its first New York City retail store and instead looking to sublease its 5,422 square-foot space at 131 Greene.