Reuben brothers revealed as buyer on Vornado’s $124M retail portfolio

The Reuben brothers have snapped up another chunk of New York real estate from local owners looking to offload their assets.

The UK-based billionaires are the buyers on the $124 million portfolio of retail properties that Vornado Realty Trust sold last week, sources told The Real Deal.

It’s the latest grab by David and Simon Reuben, who have been among the most active buyers snapping up properties as prices have fallen in recent years. For its part, Vornado has been looking to sell properties to shore up its balance sheet after suspending its dividend — but the company has insisted it’s not a forced seller.

On the REIT’s second-quarter earnings call earlier this month, president Michael Franco said the small retail properties it sold “don’t produce much [funds from operations].”

A spokesperson for Vornado declined to comment and a representative from Reuben Brothers could not be immediately reached.

The properties are 510 Fifth Avenue, 148-150 Spring Street, 443 Broadway and 692 Broadway, as well as the Armory Show in New York, an international art fair.

Ackman-Ziff and Avison Young brokered the sales.

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The notoriously reticent Reuben brothers have spent billions of dollars buying and lending on U.S. real estate since the onset of the pandemic. 

“We are active when markets are turbulent,” said one insider familiar with the company told TRD in 2021, “and continue to have the cash available to [invest more] should the right opportunities present themselves.” 

The brothers, along with partner Jeff Sutton, just sold a retail property on Madison Avenue to billionaire James Dyson for $135 million.