RFR and Waterfall Asset Management have acquired the 33,000-square-foot retail condominium portion of The Astor condominium building at 2139–2159 Broadway on New York’s Upper West Side in a joint venture. Situated in one of Manhattan’s most vibrant retail corridors, along Broadway between 72nd and 79th Streets, the landmarked building and its highly visible retail component provide ample opportunity for RFR to add value to the asset, the company said.
“We are very excited to add The Astor to our best-in-class retail portfolio across the major retail submarkets in New York City. This property possesses both the functionality of new construction retail while maintaining the character of an architecturally significant vintage building wrapped in an ornate limestone façade,” said Aby Rosen, co-founder of RFR Holding LLC.
Waterfall Asset Management took ownership of the property via a deed in lieu foreclosure and RFR bought into the partnership.
The retail condominium consists of up to seven retail suites with over 400 feet of wrap-around frontage on Broadway, 75th Street and 76th Street. Current tenants include cosmetic dermatology firm Ever/Body and award-winning physical therapy practice Spear Physical Therapy. The property currently has 21,500 square feet of super prime retail space available for lease, boasting 14-foot ceiling heights, 200 feet of frontage along Broadway and flexible floor plans.
RFR will leverage its strategic partnership with retail leasing brokerage and advisory firm Retail by Mona to market and lease the available retail spaces in order to re-position the asset and take advantage of its location along this heavily trafficked and sought-after Broadway retail corridor.
The transaction marks the latest in RFR’s retail strategy in which the operator is partnering with institutional and family office investors to acquire high-quality, urban retail properties at significantly discounted prices during a period of otherwise rapidly improving fundamentals for brick and mortar retail. This past November, RFR acquired Cartier’s flagship downtown retail townhouse located at 102 Greene Street.
