Joe Sitt’s Thor Equities has sold its retail property at 470 Broadway in Soho, avoiding foreclosure.
The real estate firm unloaded the 6,600-square-foot building to special servicer LNR Partners for $25.4 million, according to city property records filed Wednesday. LNR is the special servicing arm of Barry Sternlicht’s Miami-based Starwood Property Trust.
Thor chose to sell the property “in lieu of foreclosure,” according to the deed. The firm acquired the retail building in October 2007 for $15.5 million.
Read more
The special servicer on a defaulted loan secured by the 470 Broadway property filed to foreclose on the note last year, citing $22.9 million owed by Thor. The debt consisted of $18 million in unpaid principal, $2.6 million in unpaid interest and $2.3 million in protective advances.
The building was behind on $17.5 million in CMBS debt that had been delinquent since 2020, when management was assigned to a special servicer. Thor took out a $20.5 million loan on the property in July 2012.
Issues at 470 Broadway surfaced last year when Trepp reported the value of the property had plummeted from $29.2 million to $5.6 million in the past decade. The value was cut in half from an appraisal of $11.2 million in 2020.
The shoe retailer Aldo had a two-floor lease, which was set to expire next October. The company paid $296 per square foot in 2019, equivalent to almost $2 million in annual rent.
But Aldo filed for bankruptcy in 2020 after having defaulted on rent at 470 Broadway, according to Trepp. The store has since closed.