A retail condominium on New York's Upper East Side, located at 841 Madison Avenue, recently changed hands. The transaction totalled US$57 million, according to information from Commercial Observer.
The seller of the unit, which is occupied by luxury brand Prada, on East 70th Street was JSRE Acquisitions, associated with the Safra family and Status Capital. The buyer is RFR Holding, the company owned by Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs.
Ross Mezzo, founder of Global Advisory, and Ezra Saffati of Majestic Acquisitions represented both the buyer and seller in this transaction. Mezzo commented in a statement to CO: 'This sale clearly signals that Madison Avenue has fully reclaimed its position as Manhattan's premier luxury retail corridor. With Prada anchoring this retail condominium, we are seeing exactly the type of high-quality tenancy that has been driving rents and quality up across Madison Avenue over the last 18 months.'
The timing of JSRE's acquisition of the property and the value of that previous transaction are not known. However, the retail unit was previously sold to Ashkenazy Acquisitions for US$51 million in 2010, as reported by The Real Deal at the time.
The retail condominium in question comprises 18,000 square feet spread across four floors, according to Mezzo. Prada opened its US flagship store there as early as 1996, which at the time was the luxury retailer's largest store worldwide.
RFR Holding recently established RFR US, an investment company led by Rosen's sons, Gaby Rosen and Charlie Rosen, which is set to focus on new office and high-end retail properties. However, RFR Holding appears to have experienced more challenging times recently. This was evident, among other things, in the sale of 281 Park Avenue South in July for US$81.5 million, compared to the original asking price of US$135 million. At the end of 2024, RFR was also evicted from the Chrysler Building after US$21 million in rent payments to Cooper Union went unpaid.
JSRE, on the other hand, has recently been active in Manhattan's retail transaction business. Just this week, the investment company sold two residential and retail buildings in SoHo, at 69 Greene Street and 71-73 Greene Street, to Acadia Realty Trust for a total of US$60 million.
