Thor, ASB sell 155 Mercer to James Dyson for $60M

By Adam Pincus

UPDATED 1:16 p.m., March 17, 2023: Thor Equities, ASB Real Estate Investments and other partners sold the SoHo retail building at 155 Mercer Street formerly leased to Dolce & Gabbana, for approximately $60 million to the James Dyson investment holding company, according to property records. The sale closed this week.

The buyer was Weybourne Properties I LLC, an affiliate of James Dyson’s Weybourne Group, which is a holding company for businesses owned by James Dyson, including Dyson Inc.

This is another example of occupiers purchasing store locations, though in this case it is James Dyson’s holding company that is the owner, and not the manufacturer and seller Dyson Inc. The space is expected to be occupied by a brand of Dyson Inc.

Thor Equities, led by CEO Joseph Sitt, with partners bought the building almost exactly 10 years ago to the day. Thor in two transactions bought it from the Joyce Theater for a total of $27.25 million on March 15, 2013. In 2015, the debt was increased to $41 million.
Approximately a year later, on November 2016, as retail valuations were surging, the group sold a majority stake of the building to ASB Real Estate Investments at a valuation of $93 million, but Thor and other partners kept an ownership interest.

This sale is positive news for Thor, which along with other retail investors in New York City has been hit hard with the decline in retail values. Lenders have foreclosed or filed pre-foreclosure actions against several Thor properties. Despite that, Thor is somewhat insulated since it has a global portfolio that extends into residential, commercial and industrial.

Dyson, a global vacuum and other technology producer, made its first real estate purchase in the city with this acquisition.

Other users that bought property in the past six months to occupy it are Hyundai Motor Group, Akris, Success Academy, Lucille Lortel Theater, Laborers Local 78 and others.

ASB did not respond to a request for comment. Thor declined to comment.

The property is a three-story, 14,600-square foot, retail building that was originally constructed in 1854 as a firehouse.

Correction: The story has been updated to reflect that the buyer is not the Dyson company, as originally reported, but the separate investment holding company of Dyson founder,  James Dyson.

Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page.