SL Green snaps up Ashkenazy’s 690 Madison through foreclosure

Five-story building acquired for $74M transfer value

SL Green CEO Marc Holliday and Ashkenazy Aqcuisition’s Ben Ashkenazy and the property (Google Maps, SL Green)
SL Green CEO Marc Holliday and Ashkenazy Aqcuisition’s Ben Ashkenazy and the property (Google Maps, SL Green)

SL Green Realty has gained control of Ashkenazy Acquisition’s 690 Madison Avenue for what appears to be a discount.

The major Manhattan landlord paid transfer taxes on about $74 million, just under 65 percent of what Ashkenazy paid for the property in 2015, according to property records. PincusCo first reported the transaction, but did not specify a price tag.

SL Green in September held a UCC foreclosure auction of an Ashkenazy entity that owns the five-story building at East 62nd Street, whose retail tenants include Hermès. SL Green was a sponsor of a mezzanine loan for the Ashkenazy entity, with an outstanding balance of about $3.85 million.

The mixed-use, 7,850-square-foot building also had a $72 million senior mortgage issued by Bank of China, according to property records.

In other words, SL Green gained control of the building by paying a few million dollars more than Ashkenazy’s senior mortgage, even though it cost the New York-based real estate investment firm $115.2 million to buy the building in 2015.

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Ashkenazy did not immediately return a request for comment. SL Green declined a request for comment.

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Owners of once-prime retail properties in Manhattan have taken a hit in the pandemic.

Vornado Realty Trust in August agreed to sell its five struggling retail properties in Soho and the Upper East Side for $184.5 million, about half the price those properties collectively commanded when the REIT acquired them between 2004 and 2006.

Brookfield Property Partners was reported in early September to be selling its block-long retail condo at 530 Fifth Avenue for around $190 million — roughly a third less than the $295 million it paid for the property near the height of the market in 2014.

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