TZ Capital pays $180M to Thor, CenterSquare for retail unit in Lenox Hill

Florida-based TZ Capital through the entity Tz 680 Madison Owner LLC paid $180 million to Thor Equities and CenterSquare Investment Management through the entity Thor 680 Madison Ave LLC for the 34,000 square feet of retail unit at the base of the Carlton House condop at 680 Madison Avenue in Lenox Hill, Manhattan.
The deal closed on May 21, 2024 and was recorded on May 28, 2024.
The Real Deal first reported the sale.
The signatory for Thor Equities and CenterSquare Investment Management was Richard Gorsky, of CenterSquare. The signatory for TZ Capital was Tyler Tananbaum. The contract date was May 15, 2024.

The purchased was financed with a $120 million loan from Morgan Stanley.

RCG Longview, which changed its name to CenterSquare Investment Management, made a $60 million preferred equity investment in the property, according to a 2013 REW article.

According to an announcment from TZ Capital, the firm is a “Palm Beach-based real estate investment firm, founded in 2023 by Tyler Tananbaum and Sam Zuckert which manages assets on behalf of its founders and investors.”

An impact on the sale price is that the retail unit, as well as the residential units, are on a ground lease, but it’s the owner of the retail that is responsible for the entire ground rent, several sources said. The concern is that with a ground rent reset scheduled in 35 years, some insiders assume a sharp increase in the rent would push down the value of the unit. The landlord is Digby Management.
The retail unit is fully leased to Tom Ford, Brioni, Oscar de la Renta, Morgenthal Frederics, Missoni and Asprey.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer TZ Capital had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Thor Equities purchased one properties in one transactions for a total of $8.1 million and sold six properties in five transactions for a total of $136 million over the same time period. The former owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Marty Burger, head officer and Paul Ayure, site manager. The business entities are Extell Management Services Inc. and 21 East 61st Street Apartment Corporation.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of five of the 16 commercial properties representing 417,093 square feet of the 793,864 square feet. The largest owner is Spitzer Enterprises, followed by Reuben Brothers and then Pasquale Granato.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling zero square feet. It is a one-unit J-3 building submitted by Hans Linderoth with plans filed April 30, 2007 and permitted August 3, 2016.

The majority, or 45 percent of the 793,864 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 39 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.

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