Harbor Group buys Fifth Avenue retail condo for $68M

Seller Thor Equities paid $32.5M for the property in 2011

Harbor Group International's Jordan Slone, 445 Fifth Avenue and Joe Sitt
Harbor Group International's Jordan Slone, 445 Fifth Avenue and Joe Sitt

Harbor Group International scooped up a retail condo at 445 Fifth Avenue for $68 million from Thor Equities.

The 20,000-square-foot space, located between 39th and 40th streets and facing the public library’s Stephen L. Schwarzman Building, houses jewelry retailer Charming Charlie under a lease signed in late 2013.

Behind the story:

JLL’s Richard Baxter brokered the deal.

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Thor had paid $32.5 million for the condo in 2011, and continues to own several retail properties in the immediate neighborhood, including 564-2, 530 and 520 Fifth Avenue. The stretch of Fifth Avenue, blocks from Grand Central Station, is home to a number of major retailers, including Zara, Lord & Taylor and Barbour.

“We continue to believe strongly in the Fifth Avenue corridor,” Thor’s CEO Joseph Sitt said in a statement. “However, we felt the time was right to sell this property, after successfully implementing our business plan of improving a prime retail location and securing a nationally recognized tenant.”

It’s not the first time Harbor Group International, a Virginia-based firm, and the private equity giant have partnered on a deal. In 2014, Thor purchased a three-building portfolio from Samson Management and flipped one of the buildings, 24 West 40th Street, to Harbor Group for $91 million, netting Thor between $5 million to $10 million, The Real Deal reported.

Harbor is reportedly looking to unload a 45 percent stake in its downtown office tower 55 Broadway. In June, it bought a pair of contiguous retail properties in Flatbush for $22 million.