Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp. has raised $750M to go after new acquisitions after losing several of his most iconic properties to lenders.
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Ben Ashkenazy, the billionaire founder of the New York-based real estate firm, described the market in a rare interview with Crain’s New York Business as “the most attractive I’ve seen in a long time.”
Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp. is targeting retail and hospitality properties with overleveraged owners who are struggling to refinance and forced to offload them at discounts, Ashkenazy said. Ashkenazy plans to make its acquisitions with cash from its own coffers plus some longtime investors over two years.
“We’re excited for it,” he said. “We’ve been tracking these properties for years.”
Ashkenazy rose to prominence by purchasing some of the nation’s most iconic buildings, from New York City’s Plaza Hotel to Boston's historic Faneuil Hall Marketplace, the Barneys department stores in Manhattan, Beverly Hills and Chicago, and 625 N. Michigan Ave. on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile.
But the pandemic proved tough for the real estate mogul. He lost control of five high-profile properties, including Washington, D.C.'s Union Station, Harborplace in Baltimore and 625 Madison Ave., a Manhattan office tower that is now slated for demolition. It also sold Faneuil Hall in 2024 after drawing criticism for its management of the property, a complaint echoed during its stewardship of Union Station.
“They are a very small percentage of my company’s approximately 100 assets,” Ashkenazy told Crain’s, adding that many of the company’s other assets are “iconic and irreplaceable.”
Ashkenazy was still buying during the pandemic, acquiring a 10% stake in Macerich Cos. in 2020 before selling shares a few years later at almost three times the price he bought them for, Crain’s reported.
Even amid Ashkenazy’s ongoing struggles in 2022, Compass Vice Chair Adelaide Polsinelli described him to Bisnow as “one of the shrewdest and most strategic real estate moguls of our time.”
And in addition to acquisitions, the firm is also looking to sell. It hopes to offload a Long Island equestrian estate called Water Mill for $125M, and he has been keeping the Barneys New York store vacant in the hopes of selling it for $1B or more.
But none of the hundreds of millions of dollars in defaulted loans or relinquished properties have led Ashkenazy’s associates to lose faith. Despite a now-settled but fiery legal feud with the Gindi family over allegedly unpaid debts, Crain’s reported that Isaac Gindi attended the wedding of Ben Ashkenazy’s son earlier this year.
Lenders are also still backing Ashkenazy. Citi wrote a new, $62M loan with a five-year term for the 99% occupied Bay Harbour Shopping Center despite having been one of Ashkenazy’s lenders on Union Station.
CORRECTION, JUNE 13, 5 P.M. ET: Ashkenazy sold Faneuil Hall in 2024. A previous version of this story misstated the nature of the transaction. This story has been updated.
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