AmTrust RE eyes purchase of 680 Madison retail, deal not final

The real estate investment group AmTrust RE has a tentative agreement to purchase Thor Equities’ retail cooperative unit at the base of the mixed-use building the Carlton House at 680 Madison Avenue in Lenox Hill, Manhattan. The sale price was not known, and several sources said the deal could still fall through.

Thor Equities bought the retail for $277 million in 2013 from Extell Development and Angelo, Gordon.  Extell and Angelo, Gordon teamed up to convert the upper floors of the property to cooperative apartments.

This is not the first time Thor Equities has considered selling the approximately 35,000-square-foot retail property, with 367 feet of frontage. As recently as 2019 it was offering it for sale, seeking $370 million. The property is owned by Thor Equities but the sale would be in consultation with the property’s lender, JPMorgan Chase, according to a source.

AmTrust RE, which also uses the name AmTrust Realty, was founded in 1993 and owns commercial properties in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Chicago. Jonathan Bennett, a former long-time executive with the Nakash Holdings, joined AmTrust as president in 2021. 

The potential sale comes as retail has been battered by declining rents, but also lifted by retailers snapping up high-profile addresses, such as Prada and Kering on Fifth Avenue.

Another impact on the sale is that the retail co-op unit, as well as the residential units, are on a ground lease, but it’s the owner of the retail that is responsible for the entire ground rent, several sources said. The concern is that with a ground rent reset scheduled in 35 years, some insiders assume a sharp increase in the rent would push down the value of the unit. The landlord is Digby Management.

Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page.