SL Green takes over Madison Ave retail from Ashkenazy, acquired for $115M in 2015

By Adam Pincus

SL Green Realty has taken control of Ashkenazy Acquisition’s 690 Madison Avenue, a five-story building at the corner of East 62nd Street with Hermes as its ground-floor tenant. SL Green won control through a UCC mezzanine foreclosure auction that was initially scheduled for September 2, according to The Real Deal which reported in August on the auction notice.

A source familiar with the auction confirmed SL Green had obtained control. It was not clear when the auction occurred.

SL Green declined to comment. Ashkenazy did not respond to a request for comment. Walker & Dunlop’s Aaron Appel and Jackson Sastri were identified as the team running the auction process. Appel did not respond to requests for comment.

Ben Ashkenazy’s investment firm bought the 7,850-square-foot, five-story building in 2015 for $115.2 million. It borrowed $72 million from the Bank of China to finance the purchase. Then in 2016 SL Green provided a mezzanine loan, which had a balance as of August of $3.85 million, The Real Deal reported. It is that loan that was foreclosed on.

Retail rents in Manhattan and nationally have declined, and in some areas such as Madison Avenue have fallen sharply. That recent fall was in addition to a general decline since the peak in 2015. The Real Estate Board of New York reported that as of the fall of 2020 average asking rents had fallen on prime Madison Avenue by 51 percent, from $1,613 in the fall of 2015 to $784 in the fall of 2020.