The ancient Greek epic poem “The Odyssey” chronicles a decade-long journey home from the Trojan War, in which its titular character is delayed by giants, sea monsters and vengeful gods.
Thor Equities hasn’t had it quite that bad, but its quest to sell a Lenox Hill townhouse just hit a similar milestone.
Ten years ago, when Thor first listed the six-story home at 60 East 66th Street, its portfolio company Town Residential was one of Manhattan’s top 10 residential brokerages, its chairman Joe Sitt was buying up retail space on Fifth Avenue and a penthouse at 15 Central Park West set a city record when it sold for $88 million.
A lot has changed since 2012. Town Residential has folded, Thor’s Fifth Avenue portfolio is down to two properties and the city’s residential sales record has risen nearly threefold to $238 million. And yet, one constant remains: Thor is still searching for a buyer at 60 East 66th Street.
The home was recently relisted by townhouse specialist Leslie J. Garfield for $13.8 million, down from its initial asking price of $20.8 million ten years ago.
Records show Thor bought the property for $9.2 million in 2010, two years before first listing it with Town for more than twice that amount. By 2017, the ask had fallen to $18 million and the listing was with Leslie J. Garfield’s Matthew Lesser, its current agent. The house was divided into 10 apartments, eight of which were leased at the time.
Now, the nearly 10,000-square-foot property is vacant, something Lesser hopes will help it finally move. Despite containing rental units, the property has always been marketed primarily for its ability to be converted into a single-family mansion.
“Our market is efficient, if things are priced too high, they typically sit,” Lesser said.
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The city’s townhouse market has been particularly strong in recent months, with homes in Fort Greene and Hudson Square setting neighborhood records. But Manhattan’s luxury market has shown signs of slowing this summer, and those record-breaking properties were turnkey buildings. Thor’s asking price on East 66th Street demonstrates the premium commanded by newly renovated homes: It’s priced at $1,400 per square foot, while similar renovated product is selling for closer to $3,000 per square foot, according to Lesser.
When asked why Thor chose not to renovate the building before relisting it, Lesser said he was “happy to make that suggestion to them.”
“It’s not their business model,” he added. “They’d rather use their equity and capital elsewhere.”
Melissa Giatta, Thor’s chief operating officer, said the firm has been “approached by several interested home buyers.”
“We recognize the most lucrative opportunities for us, due to our expertise, are in the logistics and life science sectors and want to keep our focus completely on the other classes we are involved in,” Giatta said.
Thor has faced challenges to its portfolio in recent years. It lost a commercial condo at the base of Midtown’s Row NYC Hotel in April, and is facing a foreclosure auction on its 1,600-key hotel in Chicago.
Despite those issues, Thor retains a massive portfolio stretching from Central America to Europe. Its website values its 50 million-square-foot development pipeline at more than $20 billion, and Giatta said the firm intends to up its investments in logistics and life science properties in the future.
Earlier this week, it announced an $85 million deal for a cold-storage warehouse leased to Anheuser-Busch in Los Angeles County.