Jeff Sutton

Sutton is known as the King of New York Retail. Once boasting more than 115 retail properties in his portfolio, he remade some of Manhattan’s prime retail corridors. 

It didn’t happen all at once, and stories of his rise to the top have become industry lore. Like how he offered brokers a double commission if they didn’t talk to anyone else for 24 hours. Or how fixing the roof of a Payless Shoes executive scored him his first acquisition. 

The way Sutton tells it, in his rare public appearances, he didn’t have the name recognition or the cash to compete with the big players. So he perfected a strategy of securing a lease from a tenant, letting them select a building and then using the lease as financing to buy the property. 

When the retail tenant had great credit, Sutton was able to borrow more money than the building was worth, since the mortgage was supported by the rental stream. 

Retail, unlike the office sector, benefits from limited supply. But in-person shopping isn’t what it used to be. Online shopping and the pandemic have put a dent in store sales. Sutton’s properties on 34th Street have been the targets of foreclosure cases, as rents in the area have come down and taxes have yet to adjust. 

Sutton may have taken a hit, but it hasn’t knocked him off his perch.