Uniqlo buys portion of US flagship for $340M from Vornado

Vornado Realty Trust is cashing in on some of its preferred equity in a Uniqlo-anchored Midtown property.

The REIT’s joint venture is selling a portion of the Japanese retail store’s US flagship store in Manhattan to Uniqlo for $350 million, Commercial Observer reported.

The deal will net an estimated $340 million, which will likely be used for returning Vornado’s $390 million of preferred equity, according to the announcement.

The joint venture holds a fee condominium interest in 17,295 square feet (6,477 square feet at grade level) of Uniqlo’s 90,732 square feet space at 666 Fifth Avenue. Vornado has a 52 percent interest in the venture.

The pass-through leases between the office condo owner and the retail joint venture will be terminated, Vornado said. The joint venture will continue to own 23,832 square feet of retail space with 7,416 square feet at grade level. Tenants include the Abercrombie & Fitch and Tissot stores.

Eastdil Secured’s Gary Phillips and Will Silverman arranged the sale. The deal was announced Monday in advance of Vornado’s second quarter earnings call, which is scheduled for today.

The deal comes on the heels of Uniqlo’s expansion to Texas. It plans to debut two stores in Houston and three in the Dallas-Fort Worth area later this year.

— Christina Previte