RFR pays $57M for the Prada-anchored 841 Madison retail condo

RFR Holding, the firm run by Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs, bought the retail condominium at 841 Madison Avenue, the Prada-anchored unit at East 70th Street on the Upper East Side, for $57,000,000, according to a deed filed with the city and Commercial Observer, which identified RFR as the buyer.

For a New York developer or retail investor, the number to hold is the basis: the seller held the unit for 16 years and sold it only about 11% above its 2010 price.

Why it matters

The deed names the seller as VZW NYC Acquisition Group, LLC, the entity that took title to the commercial unit (block 1384, lot 1001) in a 2010 deed for $51,365,325. The 2026 price is $5,634,675 higher, which works out to about 0.7% a year before carrying costs. That is a thin return for a trophy Madison Avenue storefront, and it shows how flat prime Upper East Side retail pricing has been over a full cycle.

Commercial Observer reported the seller side as JSRE Acquisitions, linked to the Safra family and Status Capital, and the buyer as RFR Holding. Our record pull shows Safra National Bank of New York as the counterparty on 2010 and 2020 financing recorded against the same lot, which is consistent with that reporting.

The numbers

• 2026 deed: $57,000,000 (ACRIS deed).
• 2010 deed into the seller: $51,365,325, recorded October 14, 2010 (ACRIS deed).
• Change: +$5,634,675, or 11%.
• A 2020 mortgage of $277,075,014 was recorded against this lot and others on December 16, 2020. We have not matched it to a single asset, so it is not a price signal for this unit.
• The unit sits in the Hampton House condominium, so the retail interest is a commercial condo lot.

What’s next

Watch DOB NOW for filings on the retail unit’s lot, which would show whether RFR plans a storefront or interior change. We did not find a post-closing job when we pulled the record, and a new owner of a leased flagship may simply hold it. For wider context on deal flow, see New York.