Thor Equities has picked up a retail store on Paris's Left Bank in the latest in a series of transactions in the French capital, PropertyEU has learned.
The New York-headquartered global urban real estate specialist has signed a contract to acquire the site at 54 Rue de Rennes in Paris for €15 mln.
Situated on the corner of Rue Bernard Palissy, the site spans 267 m2 of space and is currently leased to Italian fashion company Stefanel.
'Surrounded by premier brands such as Emporio Armani, Lancel and Louis Vuitton, this prime retail property is one of the most desirable assets on the Rue de Rennes in Paris,' said Joseph Sitt, CEO of Thor Equities.
Rue de Rennes is one of the prime shopping streets in Paris, both in terms of the number of stores and profusion of international retailers. Close to the historical district of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, the area surrounding 54 Rue de Rennes features high-end brands such as Cartier, Montblanc, Rolex and Kenzo.
'We are continuing to focus on prime areas of Paris and other core European cities including London, Madrid and Milan, due to an improving macro-economic environment and increased tourism spending,' said Jared Hart, managing director for Europe at Thor Equities.
The company owns additional properties in Paris, including 32 Rue des Archives and 51-53 Boulevard Haussmann. It also owns 65 Boulevard de la Croisette in Cannes as well as prime high street assets in Madrid, Milan and London, where its holdings include 151 Wardour Street, 145 Oxford Street, 105-109 Oxford Street, Bond Street House at 14 Clifford Street, and the Burlington Arcade.
Strategy
While both 54 Rue de Rennes itself and the ticket size are relatively small, the deal fits with Thor Equities' general strategy to purchase properties with extra potential in strong locations at attractive prices and rework them or bring in new tenants to add value before selling them on.
On 16 March, Thor Equities and Invesco Real Estate sold the Champs-Elysees flagship store of cosmetic retailer Kiko Milano in Paris to AEW Europe for €115 mln. This was almost double the price at which Thor acquired the property 18 months before when it was home to the Le Queen nightclub.
During the summer of 2016 Bloomberg reported that Thor Equities and Meyer Bergman agreed to sell a retail-led mixed-use building on the Champs-Elysees for about €490 mln. The reported sales price, if correct, would have reflected a 96% increase on what Meyer Bergman and Thor Equities paid for the property less than three years before. Meyer Bergman and Thor Equities declined to comment on the market rumour.
