Hubb NYC pays $38M for Midtown South retail condo and parking garage

Commercial and residential property investor Hubb NYC paid a combined $38 million for a retail condo and parking garage at Continental Properties’ 325 Fifth Avenue near Koreatown, deeds filed with city Friday show.

325 Fifth Avenue is a 41-story condo tower built in 2005 through a joint venture with Douglaston Development. Hubb paid $14.1 million for the parking garage and $23.9 million for the 5,882-square-foot retail space, which is divided into three separate stores. A 2,100-square-foot store at the address was listed for $61,250 a month earlier this year. The space eventually leased to the Korean-American focused Hamni Bank. The other retail tenants are Bon Chon Chicken and a souvenir shop.

Hubb’s Jesse Terry and Johnny McCarthy said high foot-traffic and proximity to the Empire State Building made both the retail and garage attractive investments.

The deal is the second recent retail purchase for Hubb, which in January bought the 12-store commercial unit at 71 Nassau Street for $19.6 million. In recent years, the company has also picked up multiple Lower East Side rental complexes.

The average asking rent for Midtown South retail, which includes Koreatown’s Fifth Avenue corridor, fell 18 percent year-over-year this spring, according to a May report from the Real Estate Board of New York.