French billionaire closes on purchase of Thor’s 693 Fifth

Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière pays $525M - nearly four times what Sitt paid in 2010

From left: Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière (via YouTube), 693 Fifth Avenue and Valentino store
From left: Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière (via YouTube), 693 Fifth Avenue and Valentino store

French billionaire Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière has closed on the $525 million purchase of Thor Equities’ office-and-retail building at 693 Fifth Avenue in Midtown.

The 20-story, 105,000-square-foot property between East 54th and 55th streets sold for nearly four times the price that Joseph Sitt’s Thor paid for it in 2010. Thor acquired it from Japanese department store Takashimaya for $142 million at the time.

Ladreit de Lacharrière is chair and CEO of Fimalac, a French holding company that owns minority stakes in Fitch Ratings and Warburg Pincus. The Paris-based firm specializes in credit ratings, private equity and commercial real estate. The New York City building purchase appears to be his first major play.

The buyer’s identity was first revealed by Real Estate Alert, while Commercial Observer first reported Thor was in contract to sell the property last month.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

By signing up, you agree to TheRealDeal Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.

Savitt Partners’ Robert Conover and Michael Dubin represented Ladreit de Lacharrière, while CBRE’s Darcy Stacom and Marcella Fasulo represented the seller, sources told TRD. The brokers declined to comment.

It was not immediately clear what Ladreit de Lacharrière has planned for the property. It is anchored by Valentino, which has about 19,600 square feet. In November, art gallery Carpenters Workshop Gallery opened on the top two floors.

Thor has been quietly marketing a large portion of its commercial real estate holdings. Potential buyers have received set-ups on at least 10 Thor-owned properties over the past three months, TRD reported last week.