The debt fund that foreclosed on Ben Ashkenazy’s Chelsea retail space – once home to the original Barneys department store – has sold the property for a fraction of its once-lofty price.
Douglas Tiesi’s Argentic Investment Management sold the property at 115 7th Avenue for $22 million to Flushing architect and developer Raymond Chan, a source familiar with the sale told The Real Deal.
That’s less than half the $57 million Ashkenazy paid for the 40,000-square-foot building in 2014. His Ashkenazy Acquisition defaulted on the property’s $46 million loan in 2020 and Argentic took over the building through foreclosure last year.
The property, which sits at the corner of Seventh Avenue and West 17th Street, is now poised to be redeveloped. The property has about 55,000 square feet of development rights.
“The new buyers are planning on building residential condos with ground floor retail with a beautiful modern design,” read an announcement from the Highcap Group, which said it sold the building.
Chan was not immediately available for comment.
Meridian Investment Sales, led by David Schechtman and Abie Kassin, had listed the property for sale earlier this year.
Read more
Commercial
New York
Ashkenazy’s lender looks to unload Chelsea space at steep discount
Commercial
New York
Ben Ashkenazy secretly records lender in Union Station clash
New York
SL Green closes 625 Madison Ave saga with $630M sale to Related
Ashkenazy bought the building and started a gut renovation, but never completed the project. It’s one of a handful of properties that the billionaire investor has struggled with as he tries to steady his vast portfolio.
SL Green recently struck a deal to sell Ashkenazy’s former office property at 625 Madison Avenue, which the REIT took over in foreclosure earlier this year, to the Related Companies for $633 million.
In Washington, D.C., Ashkenazy lost his Union Station retail and office property to his mezzanine lender, Rexmark, last year. As the two sides wrestled over control of the $1 billion property, Ashkenazy secretly recorded Rexmark principal Michael Rebibo half a dozen times, according to court filings.