Thor Equities loses retail in NoHo to lender, following $8.5M foreclosure

The entity RSS CD2017-CD-4-NY T5B LLC, in care of Rialto Capital Management, acquired title from Joseph Sitt’s Thor Equities through a foreclosure of the retail condominium unit at 50 Bond Street in NoHo, Manhattan. The transfer value was $3.9 million, while the most recent loan was $8.5 million, given in 2017.
The deal closed on March 27, 2024 and was recorded on July 12, 2024. The property has 3,220 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The transfer value per built square foot is $1,220 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.)
Thor Equities bought the property on April 27, 2015, for $11.2 million. The signatory for the seller was the court referee, Jeffrey R. Miller. The signatory for Rialto Capital Management was Kaveh Saberi. The contract date was January 17, 2024. This was a foreclosure auction, for index number 850068/2022, and not an arms length transaction, because the lender affiliate took the property back.
Thor Equities years ago began to turn its focus away from New York City retail and toward a global property portfolio including industrial and life sciences, according to its website.

Prior sales and revenue

The seller Thor Equities purchased one property in one transaction for a total of $8.1 million and sold or turned over seven properties in six transactions for a total of $316 million over the past two years.

The property

The retail condo in NoHo has 3,220 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has a total lot size of 3,220 square feet. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $4.3 million.

Development

There are no active new building construction projects or major alteration projects with initial costs more than $1 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In NoHo, The majority, or 55 percent of the 3.8 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 14 percent of the space. In sales, NoHo has 1.2 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $314.7 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 24th highest in Manhattan. For development, NoHo has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 403,001 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 11 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of eight of the 23 commercial properties representing 126,354 square feet of the 336,595 square feet. The largest owner is Steven Gautier-Winther, followed by Stephen F. Bennett and then Portfolio6 LLC.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 48 percent of the 336,595 square feet of built space are office buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 23 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Thor Equities owned at least 23 commercial properties with 274 residential units in New York City with 652,303 square feet and a city-determined market value of $166.6 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $248.8 million in debt, with top three lenders as MetLife, Athene Holding, and AB CarVal Investors respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 32 percent of the 652,303 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with industrial properties next occupying 23 percent of the space. The bulk, or 75 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 25 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Rialto Capital Management owned at least two commercial properties with eight residential units in New York City with 118,813 square feet and a city-determined market value of $74.5 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $5 million in debt, borrowed from Signature Bank. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 95 percent of the 118,813 square feet of built space are office properties, with walkup properties next occupying 5 percent of the space. The bulk, or 95 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 5 percent of the space.

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