Nuveen, Union Investment unload Flatiron retail condo

A joint venture between Nuveen Real Estate and Union Investment unloaded a recently renovated retail condo in the Flatiron District.

Nuveen and the German investment fund sold the 18,000-square-foot retail space at 636 Sixth Avenue to an investor, Union Investment announced.

The same buyer also acquired the 70,000 square foot office condo on the building’s upper floors from a separate owner, Clarion Partners, on the same day.

A spokesperson declined to disclose the sale price or buyer but said the property was sold at a profit.

Sources told The Real Deal that the buyer is the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council and they will use both the office and retail spaces. According to sources, the price was over $70 million and CBRE’s Doug Middleton and Dan Kaplan brokered the deal.

Financial services company TIAA-CREF, Nuveen’s parent, picked up the retail condo on the northwest corner of West 19th Street in 2014 for $42 million. The joint venture took over the deed in 2016, according to property records.

The property was one of four retail properties acquired in the joint venture deal — the German fund’s first entry into the American retail market. It continues to hold a 49 percent stake in the other three properties and has since added two more to its portfolio.

CVS occupied the entire condo on a long-term lease before closing in 2022. The retail property has been renovated and features flexible workspace floor plans, according to Nuveen’s website.

Retail continues to be one of the bright spots in the struggling commercial real estate market. Average asking rent in Manhattan’s retail corridors was up 4 percent in the second quarter and has logged eight consecutive quarterly increases, according to a CBRE report.

Rents in the Flatiron District on Fifth Avenue from 14th to 23rd Streets went up 9.7 percent to $376 per square foot, according to CBRE.