By: Benyamin Davidsons
Thor Equities has unloaded its building in the Theatre district, which has been facing foreclosure by the lender. As reported by Crain’s NY, Thor sold the building at 725 Eighth Avenue for $10.3 million. The NY based real estate investment and development company had purchased the building back in 2013 for $13 million. The building between 45th and 46th Streets, boasts roughly 8,300 square feet of space across four floors and a mezzanine, in one of Midtown’s busiest neighborhoods. The retail building was built in 1940 and features 26 feet of frontage on Eighth avenue.
The new buyer, EFT Capital Servicing, got a 20 percent discount off the last purchase price. The property has accumulated a $16 million judgement against Thor, which includes the open balance of an $11 million loan, in addition to interest charges. The lender, Wilmington Trust, had opened a suit to foreclose in October 2019, requesting that the court force Thor to sell the property, as per court papers. The trouble was that Thor leased the space out to an unsuccessful Massachusetts-based burger chain, Wahlburgers. It then planned to bring a Cabo Wabo Cantina to the site, but the deal never materialized and so the real estate firm defaulted on the $11 million loan.
At that same time, Thor had been having other financial difficulties with another of its Manhattan properties, namely the building at 590 Fifth Avenue. That Midtown building was foreclosed by SL Green in October 2020, following a defaulted $24 million mezzanine loan. The building at 590 Fifth Ave recently got a new owner, the Hematian family which is behind the designer jewelry company, purchased the building for $1000 per square foot, or $103 million.
The sale is but a dent for Thor, which specializes in office, industrial, life science, residential, hotel and mixed-use assets in premier locations across the globe. Founded by Joseph Sitt in 1986, the company has roughly $20 billion of assets under its management, with over 150 properties spanning about 50 million square feet in total, as per the firm’s website. Thor is also the largest developer in Mexico, having developed over 18 million square feet of properties.
Representatives for Thor Equities and EFT Capital Group did not immediately respond to Crain’s requests for comment regarding the sale.
