Ashkenazy Acquisition picks up former J.C. Penney store for $40.5M

Ben Ashkenazy’s Ashkenazy Acquisition through the entity Queens Flagship LLC recently completed the $40.5 million purchase of a former JCPenney-owned building at 92-59 59th Avenue in Elmhurst, Queens, according to public records.  JCPenney filed for bankruptcy and its retail and operating assets were reorganized and exited bankruptcy in late 2020 under a joint venture of Simon Property Group and Brookfield Asset Management. The building is part of the Queens Center Mall complex.

Copper Property CTL Pass Through Trust through the entity Ctl Propco I LLC, as managed by Hilco Real Estate, acquired title of the property a year earlier in January of 2021 with a valuation of $18.1 million as part of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization of JCPenney. The trust was created to manage and lease the assets and sell them off. The Ashkenazy price was more than double the value placed on the asset in the bankruptcy transfer. Ashkenazy’s purchase closed on December 23, 2021 and was recorded on January 5, 2022. The space is leased to a JCPenney affiliate.

Ashekanzy’s purchase was followed by a $31 million acquisition loan from Benefit Street Partners. Ben Ashkenazy signed for his company through the entity Queens Flagship LLC.

Ashkenazy Acquisition is a major national retail landlord with properties in major U.S. cities including New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Miami.

Meanwhile, Ashkenazy Acquisition is facing several foreclosures and lawsuits including a rental dispute between it and SL Green at 625 Madison Avenue. In Washington, D.C. Ashkenazy faced a foreclosure sale of Union Station originally scheduled for January 6, according to Bloomberg. That sale has been canceled, according to local news reports citing a notice from the auctioneer.

Michael Alpert of Ashkenazy Acquisition declined a PincusCo request for comment. Ben Ashkenazy is out of the country and could not be reached, according to an automated email response.

The property has 202,383 square feet of built space and 208,958 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 411,335 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $200 and the price per buildable square foot is $98 per the PincusCo analysis. (The price per square foot analysis is the transaction price divided by square feet as reported in public records and assumes no air rights have been sold.)

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