Union Investment and Nuveen Real Estate have sold the retail property at 1511 Third Avenue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York. The buyer is Stockbridge, a real estate investment company based in San Francisco, California. The parties have agreed not to disclose financial details of the transaction. Union Investment acquired the retail property in 2016 as part of a joint venture deal with Nuveen Real Estate (then TH Real Estate) for the open-ended real estate fund UniImmo: Global. The fund holds a stake of 49 percent.
The transaction in the “Prime Urban Retail” category included four retail properties in the USA at the time and marked the entry of the Hamburg-based real estate investment manager into the US retail market. In 2024, Union Investment and Nuveen Real Estate have already sold the retail property at 636 Sixth Avenue in the Flatiron District of Manhattan, New York, from their joint venture portfolio. UniImmo: Global continues to hold a 49 percent stake in the other two retail properties acquired under the joint venture deal, which are located in prime retail locations in San Francisco and Philadelphia.
The fully let building at 1511 Third Avenue comprises 1,625 square meters on four floors plus a basement. The main part of the ground floor and the basement is leased to the clothing retailer Gap. The upper floors are used by the luxury fitness company Equinox.
“In a transaction market that continues to be characterized by limited transaction activity and high U.S. interest rates, we took the opportunity to sell the retail property. The sale is being carried out for portfolio strategic reasons and improves the fund’s liquidity position,” says Kseniya Merritt, Senior Vice President and Head of Retail Investments North America at Union Investment.
CBRE’s retail team in New York, led by Doug Middleton and Jack Stillwagon, acted as brokers.
