Vornado to net $340M in partial sale of Uniqlo US flagship

Vornado Realty Trust is cashing in on some of its preferred equity in a Uniqlo-anchored Midtown property.

The REIT’s joint venture is selling a portion of the Japanese retail store’s US flagship store in Manhattan to Uniqlo for $350 million, Commercial Observer reported.

The deal will net an estimated $340 million, which will likely be used for returning Vornado’s $390 million of preferred equity, according to the announcement.

The joint venture holds a fee condominium interest in 17,295 square feet (6,477 square feet at grade level) of Uniqlo’s 90,732 square feet space at 666 Fifth Avenue. Vornado has a 52 percent interest in the venture.

The pass-through leases between the office condo owner and the retail joint venture will be terminated, Vornado said. The joint venture will continue to own 23,832 square feet of retail space with 7,416 square feet at grade level. Tenants include the Abercrombie & Fitch and Tissot stores.

Namdar and Empire Capital in Talks to Hand Back the Keys at 345 Seventh Avenue

Shopping mall mogul Igal Namdar’s bravado about his plans to turn around distressed Manhattan offices might not be fully warranted.

Namdar Realty Group and Empire Capital Holdings are in talks to hand back 345 Seventh Avenue to collateral manager Benefit Street Partners, three years after the firms purchased the century-old office building, Commercial Observer has learned.

SEE ALSO: Multifamily Distress Jumps 100 Basis Points in JulyThe property is “in the process of being returned to the lender,” a lawyer for the building’s owners wrote in a June 17 email to the 32BJ Service Employees International Union, which represents five cleaners at the building. “A specific date has not yet been set.”