Fresh off his joint $136 million purchase with SL Green of 1552 Broadway, the Times Square commercial property that houses TGI Friday’s, Jeff Sutton has become one of the most prominent retail landlords in the city, The New York Observer said. According to the profile, in which Sutton declined to participate (as he did for a recent story by The Real Deal on his Manhattan activity), the Gravesend, Brooklyn-native started his march to the top in the early 1990s with a risky strategy: he would get the lease first, and then buy the space with the lease money. He used the strategy first with Payless Shoes and then CVS, before landing his big break in 2002, signing American Girl at 609 Fifth Avenue.
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Designers Dolce & Gabbana, 717 Fifth Avenue and landlord Jeff Sutton

Fashion label Dolce & Gabbana has leased an 18,400-square-foot store on Fifth Avenue, the New York Post reported, taking over from clothing store Escada, which will move to a smaller space within the same building. The lease could be valued at just under $300 million, sources said.

The two stores, at 717 Fifth Avenue, are part of a retail condominium owned by SL Green Realty and prominent Manhattan landlord Jeff Sutton, the latter who oversaw both deals. No other brokers were involved in the deal.

Dolce & Gabbana currently has a location at 825 Madison Avenue and a lower-price D&G store at 434 West Broadway, but has never conquered Fifth Avenue…. [more]