Thor Equities looks to sell BJ’s big-box store in Gravesend

Joe Sitt’s Thor Equities is looking to sell another one of its large retail properties in Brooklyn.

The Midtown-based firm put the big-box retail store leased to BJ’s Wholesale Club in Gravesend up for sale with an asking price in the mid-$70 million range.

“The store’s been open five years and it’s been performing very well,” Newmark Knight Frank’s Thomas Dobrowski, who’s leading the team marketing the property, told The Real Deal.

The South Brooklyn property at 1752 Shore Parkway includes a 136,000-square-foot store and a 60,000-square- foot parking garage. BJ’s has a 20-year, triple-net lease with more than 14 years left on the term, and includes “significant” contractual rent increases, according to Newmark.

Thor bought the land near the Caesar’s Bay Shopping Center in 2005 for $10 million, and broke ground on the BJ’s store in 2012. The developer refinanced the property in 2017 with a $45 million loan from Signature Bank, property records show.

While retailers have struggled, Target last year signed a deal last year to replace the Toys ‘R’ Us and Baby ‘R’ Us stores next door at the Caesar’s Bay Shopping Center, which Dobrowski said was good news for property owners.

“It’s a good sign and speaks to the viability of the market for big box retailers,” he said.

Thor has been looking to sell off many of its retail holdings as of late, as the company shifts away from that struggling market.

In Manhattan, the company earlier this year sold a pair of Soho retail condos to Acadia Realty Trust. And Thor recently defaulted on its loan at another Soho retail property, according to reports.

Last year, the investment firm tested the waters to unload a large portfolio of properties in Coney Island. And Thor recently changed course in Red Hook, where it abandoned plans to build an 800,000-square-foot office complex in favor of building last-mile warehousing at the property.