Michael Shvo closes on Soho retail building for $382M

Deal for 530 Broadway initially went under contract for $400M

Michael Shvo, Thor Equities’ Joe Sitt, Wharton Properties’ Jeff Sutton and 530 Broadway
Michael Shvo, Thor Equities’ Joe Sitt, Wharton Properties’ Jeff Sutton and 530 Broadway

Michael Shvo has closed on his purchase of 530 Broadway, according to property records.

Jeff Sutton and Joe Sitt sold the Soho retail property to a Shvo-led partnership for $382 million, slightly less than the $400 million the property originally went into contract for. The deal includes a $210 million loan from LoanCore.

Sutton and Sitt had been mulling a sale of the building for years, putting it on the market in 2016 with a $450 million asking price. Sutton’s Wharton Properties is the majority owner at the three 11-story structures from 530-536 Broadway, and retail tenants include Skechers and Club Monaco.

Thor Equities COO Melissa Gliatta said in a statement that the firm was “happy to monetize this asset for itself and its investors.”

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Sutton declined to comment on the deal. Representatives for Shvo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The deal has closed in the midst of a rough market for retail building sales, due in part to declining rents. They dropped along Broadway in Soho from a peak of $977 per square foot in spring 2015 to $491 per square foot this past fall, according to a study by the Real Estate Board of New York.

The sale marks another major deal for Shvo’s partnership, which consists of Deutsche Finance, German pension fund BVK and Turkish developer Bilgili Holding. The group has also recently purchased 711 Fifth Avenue and 685 Fifth Avenue in Midtown.

Thor Equities bought 530-536 Broadway in Soho in 2007 for $190 million, and Sutton acquired it in 2013 for $237 million as a joint-venture with SL Green Realty. Thor maintained a minority stake in the building, and Sutton bought SL Green’s mezzanine-debt position in the property in 2018 for $100 million.