A low-key Irish investor with high-profile Manhattan properties has quietly embarked on a selling spree.
Aidan Brooks, 47, the London-based founder of Tribeca Holdings Ltd., is in the process of unloading several glamorous retail buildings, sources tell Realty Check.
Tribeca’s Manhattan portfolio includes the Rhinelander Mansion at 867 Madison Ave.; the Ralph Lauren Polo flagship, which Brooks and his Tribeca partner JP McManus bought in 2005 for about $80 million; and Bloomingdale’s Soho home at 504 Broadway, which they bought in 2007 for $34.5 million.
Soho in 2007 was not yet the retail madhouse it is today. An investment-sale source not involved at 504 Broadway or with Tribeca Holdings said 504 Broadway could now fetch more than $200 million, based on recent nearby sales of up to $2,000 a square foot.
Although 867 Madison was said to be in contract, there was no word on the buyer or price. It was unknown whether a buyer has been tapped for 504 Broadway.
Brooks was snatching up properties as recently as March 2014, when he bought 710 Madison Ave., home to luxury jeweler Graff Diamonds, for $70 million, according to city records.
But his $115 million sale in July 2015, of 690 Madison Ave., Hermes’ men’s store, to Ashkenazy Acquisition, first reported by my colleague Lois Weiss, might have signaled a reversal.
Tribeca Holdings Ltd. — not to be confused with several similarly named firms — also owns prime properties in central London as well as in Boston, Miami and Beverly Hills.
Sources confirmed that Brooks just sold a three-story retail building in Pasadena, Calif., for slightly over $40 million to Rockwood and Aurora Capital — not much profit, if any, since he bought it from CIM in 2006 for $37 million.
The ongoing sale offerings are being handled without brokers, sources said. It was not known why Brooks chose this moment to sell.
Executives who could provide further details could not be reached over the holiday weekend.
One of Brooks’ New York lawyers, Hugh P. Finnegan of Sullivan & Worcester, said, “I am not involved in any of the sales and so cannot comment.” He said he would forward our questions to someone with knowledge of them, but no one got back to us.
The TWA Flight Center Hotel moved a step closer to reality last week when Queens Borough President Melinda Katz enthusiastically forwarded the proposal to the City Planning Commission, which will take it up on Feb. 24.
The $265 million project at John F. Kennedy Airport was previously blessed by Queens community boards 10, 12 and 13. The hotel by MCR Development, to operate under a lease with the Port Authority, will restore the landmarked Eero Saarinen TWA terminal as well as create a new hotel with 505 rooms and 40,000 square feet of meeting space.
The Saarinen building has been closed since 2001. Its swooping “winged form” is hailed by the Landmarks Preservation Commission as “one of the great masterpieces of expressionistic modern design.”
MCR developed the High Line Hotel in Manhattan among 89 hotel projects in 23 states.
The TWA proposal will eventually go to the City Council and Mayor Bill de Blasio for approval.
Powerhouse literary agency Janklow & Nesbit is leaving its longtime home at 445 Park Ave. for Aby Rosen/RFR’s 285 Madison Ave. The hot shop signed an 11-year lease for 14,875 square feet for the entire 21st floor, which comes with a wraparound outdoor terrace.
The agency, founded by legendary Mort Janklow in 1977, has repped such top-tier writers as Danielle Steel, Malcolm Gladwell and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Rosen and GreekOak Real Estate bought then-vacant 285 Madison in 2012 for $190 million and put in $65 million in capital improvements. Recent new leases include a 9,000-square-foot Benjamin Steakhouse on the ground floor.
CBRE’s Paul Amrich and Neil King repped Janklow & Nesbit. Asking office rents have been reported between $65 and $80 a square foot depending on floor.
RFR was repped by JLL’s Mitch Konsker and Alexander Chudnoff as well as by RFR’s AJ Camhi in-house.
TJ Maxx is 125th Street’s newest big-league retailer. The high-volume clothing chain has signed for 20,000 square feet on the lower level of 5 W. 125th St., developed by Aurora Capital and the Adjmi family, sources said.
The asking rent was $50 per square foot. Ripco’s Esther Bukai repped the tenant.
TJ Maxx will share the eastern lobby with Bed Bath & Beyond, which colleague Lois Weiss first reported is taking the second floor.
The third floor is leased to shared-space provider WeWork. The only available remaining retail space is 18,000 square feet on the ground floor.