690 Madison Avenue,SL Green CEO Marc Holliday and Ashkenazy Aqcuisition’s Ben Ashkenazy (Photos via SL Green, Google Maps)
Ashkenazy Aqcuisition’s 690 Madison Avenue has a one-way ticket to the auction block, courtesy of SL Green.
The five-story building at East 62nd Street, whose retail tenants include Hermès, has been owned by the New York-based real estate investment firm since 2015, when the company paid $115.2 million for it.
SL Green Realty is taking steps to hold a UCC foreclosure auction of an Ashkenazy entity that owns the mixed-use, 7,850-square-foot building, according to a public notice. The auction is scheduled for Sept. 2, but Ashkenazy is likely to stop it from happening, given that it owes less than $4 million on the loan in question.
SL Green is pursuing the UCC remedy on a mezzanine loan the company issued in July 2016, according to Walker & Dunlop, which was retained by SL Green to broker the transaction. The outstanding balance is about $3.85 million. Walker & Dunlop’s Aaron Appel and Jackson Sastri are leading the team.
The property also has a $72 million senior mortgage issued by Bank of China, according to property records.
Ashkenazy Acquisition did not return phone and email messages seeking comment. SL Green declined to comment.
SL Green and Ashkenazy have been at odds for several years. One feud involves an office building just a few blocks south of 690 Madison.
Ashkenazy, which owns the dirt under SL Green’s building at 625 Madison Avenue, attempted to impose a significant rent hike on the ground lessee. To gain negotiating power, SL Green reportedly acquired a piece of debt from a loan taken out by Ashkenazy against the ground that it owned.
