Japanese fashion brand buys long-vacant Madison Avenue retail site

UPDATED, 1:58 p.m. August 21: The parent company of the Japanese fashion brand Adeam has purchased an Upper East Side retail site that has been vacant for more than a year.

FOXEY Corporation purchased the five-story townhouse at 770 Madison Avenue for $31 million from Galo Shoes, which had owned the building since at least 1981, according to property records.

The building housed the trendy dress shop BCBGMAXAZRIA for more than 10 years, but the store closed in February 2017 as part of a larger corporate bankruptcy.

FOXEY has not yet decided what they will do with the property, and they do not have immediate plans to open up an Adeam there, according to representatives for the company.

An analysis by The Real Deal last summer found that retail vacancies had hit the Upper East Side hard, with 82 empty storefronts along Second, Third, Lexington and Madison avenues between East 57th and 96th streets.

Another long-vacant retail site on the Upper East Side at 1251 Third Avenue found a tenant earlier this year in Morton Williams, which signed a deal for 13,000 square feet and $2 million per year across two floors.

This story has been updated to clarify the identity of the buyer and their plans for the property.