Charles Kushner (left), head of Kushner Companies, and 543 Madison Avenue

While many troubled retailers are using Chapter 11 protection to cancel
leases, bankrupt retailer Hartmarx was paid $11.8 million by its
landlord to terminate a below-market lease at the prime Midtown
location of its subsidiary, men’s clothier Hickey Freeman, at 666 Fifth
Avenue. A partnership of Crown Acquisitions, the Carlyle Group and Kushner
Companies paid Hartmarx the multi-million dollar fee to terminate the
lease at its location in the retail portion at 666 Fifth Avenue,
between 52nd and 53rd streets. The office portion of the building is
owned by Kushner Companies. The partnership bought the leasehold June 4, city property records
published this week show, months after Hartmarx filed for bankruptcy
protection in Illinois in January. The lease was signed in 2000,
expired in 2016 and had an option to extend another five years,
bankruptcy court records show. By Adam Pincus
[more]