Ashkenazy loses Midtown retail building bought for $18.5M

By Varvara Budetti

Ashkenazy Acquisition through the entity Midtown Lexington Retail Owner LLC has transferred ownership of its Midtown mixed-use building at 730 Lexington Avenue to lender Amerant Bank through the entity MCNA Properties IV, LLC. The transfer value was $12.7 million however the price given in city property records when a lender takes control is often simply the debt on the building. The deed transfer does not name this as a deed-in-lieu, but the new owner is an affiliate of the lender.

The building is only 20 feet wide and is hemmed in by large retailers on either side, with a Victoria’s Secret to the south and the Gap to the north. Across the street is an H&M, and up the block, Bloomingdale’s.

This marks the second loss for the real estate firm in October after SL Green Realty took control of 690 Madison Avenue in the beginning of the month.

Ashkenazy originally acquired 730 Lexington Avenue in 2015 for $18,500,000. Mercantil Bank, which rebranded to Amerant Bank in 2019, provided $12,950,000 in acquisition funding. The ground floor had been occupied by shoe store Aldo, but the retailer closed the location.

Ashkenazy did not immediately respond to a PincusCo request for comment.

The transfer was dated September 30 but recorded on October 21. Over the past five years, there have been 2 NYC Department of Buildings permit applications filed for this parcel valued at more than $20,000. There were 2 renovation/alteration projects applied for with a total estimated value of $165,000.

The property has 4,100 square feet of built space and 9,898 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 14,000 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $3,109 and the price per buildable square foot is $910 per the PincusCo analysis.

Mixed-use retail buildings have been hit hard in recent weeks. Nightingale and Friedland lost their leasehold of 645 Madison Avenue to East West Bank and three separate Soho buildings were transferred to lenders in the last six months.

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