Brookfield Weighing Sale of Fifth Ave Retail Asset

Michael Shvo just landed an inventory loan for the condo portion of 685 Fifth Avenue. Meanwhile, at the retail portion of the Midtown Manhattan property, Brookfield is weighing a sale.

Brookfield hired Eastdil Secured to market the retail section of the property, Bloomberg reported. Discussions of a possible sale are in early stages and it’s still possible that Brookfield will hold on to the asset.

Brookfield and Eastdil declined to comment.

The property on the southeast corner of 54th Street is home to a spade of prominent tenants, including Coach, Stuart Weitzman and DJI Hasselblad. The luxury handbag retailer signed a lease in 2016 for more than 23,000 square feet at the property, which was owned by General Growth Properties and Thor Equities at the time; Brookfield acquired GGP in 2018.

If Brookfield decides to part ways with the retail asset, it will be doing so in a hot market on Fifth Avenue. The famous retail corridor has been a hive of activity in recent months, especially among brands looking to buy or sell their own real estate.

In the spring, Prada purchased a retail condo at the Crown Building on Fifth Avenue for $12.6 million; the seller in that deal was also Brookfield Properties. It was the third purchase the luxury brand made in the corridor in recent months; it also inked deals to buy its flagship store at 724 Fifth Avenue and neighboring 720 Fifth Avenue for a total of $835 million from Jeff Sutton’s Wharton Properties.

This summer, Ingka Investments — a subsidiary of the largest franchisor of Ikea — partnered with Gary Barnett’s Extell Development at 570 Fifth Avenue. As part of the arrangement, Ingka will own 80,000 square feet of retail space at the new tower, as well as a one-third stake in the remainder of the property.

— Holden Walter-Warner