Titan Golden inks two retail tenants at long-vacant Madison Ave space

After struggling for years to land a tenant, a prominent Madison Avenue retail space just picked up two.

The ground-floor space at 645 Madison Avenue, Titan Golden’s 22-story office building on the corner of East 60th Street, will soon host apparel brand Peter Millar and Swiss watchmaker IWC Schaffhausen, both of which signed 10-year deals for roughly 2,900 square feet, plus a shared, 3,000-square-foot space on the lower level.

Brokers say asking rents have returned above $1,000 a foot along the pricey stretch of Madison Avenue between East 57th and East 64th streets. The two tenants, both owned by luxury giant Richemont, signed for “north of $800 per foot,” according to sources. Peter Millar will take the corner space, with IWC Schaffhausen along Madison Avenue.

Chris DeCrosta of GoodSpace represented Richemont on the deals, completed last month, while Lantern Real Estate’s Matthew Siegel represented Titan Golden. Neither broker returned requests for comment.

Matthew Bauer, president of the Madison Avenue Business Improvement District, said the leases signify that luxury brands are once again investing in Madison Avenue “at a rapid pace.”

“Spaces that had not been occupied for quite a while are suddenly engaged again,” he said.

The retail space, which was four floors before a recent renovation, housed Ann Taylor from 1994 until late 2014. But for a pop-up, it’s been vacant since.

Previous owners Friedland Properties and Nightingale Properties redeveloped the space in a plan designed by MdeAS Architects that involved moving the building’s office lobby to East 60th Street but became so pricey as rents flattened that it cost them control of the property.

Last year, East West bank foreclosed on a $150 million loan made to Friedland and Nightingale when they bought the ground lease on the 164,000-square-foot property from TF Cornerstone and Pershing Square Capital Management’s Bill Ackman for $76 million in 2015. At the time of the foreclosure, the lease was valued at just under $80 million.

Just two months later, East West flipped the ground lease to Titan Golden, a California-based private equity firm, for a discounted $26.6 million.

Friedland, Nightingale and Ackman, who had retained his stake in the ground lease, hired Marcus & Millichap in 2019 to sell the remaining 60 years for $120 million but found no takers, as it was facing a significant rent reset.

Titan Golden rid itself of the rent reset issue earlier this year, buying the land beneath the building for $197 million from a group that included Richard Baker, the CEO of Saks Fifth Avenue owner Hudson’s Bay.

Headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, and known for its golf apparel, Peter Millar’s New York store is currently at 536 Madison Avenue, where it signed a lease for 3,400 square feet on two levels in 2014. Swiss watchmaker IWC Schaffhausen is located across the street at 535 Madison Avenue, where it signed a lease for two levels spanning 4,100 square feet in 2011.

It’s not the only Richemont-owned watch brand relocating along Madison Avenue.

German watchmaker A. Lange & Söhne is moving from 785 Madison further south into the former Chopard location at 709 Madison, while Paneri is leaving 703 Madison to open up in the much larger former Roberto Cavalli at 711 Madison.