Saks Global has sold a Neiman Marcus flagship in one of the nation's top retail hubs in an apparent move to free up capital to pay down its debt.
New York City–based Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp. purchased the 184,000-square-foot Neiman Marcus store at 9700 Wilshire Blvd. in Beverly Hills, California, from Saks for an undisclosed price.
Executives at Saks Global, the parent company of Neiman Marcus, have signaled plans to shore up cash by offloading stores, or even parting with a stake in luxury retail chain Bergdorf Goodman, to help pay off debts and reinvest in its core retail business. The company reportedly faces a $100 million debt payment deadline at the end of December.
The buyer, headed by billionaire developer Ben Ashkenazy, now calls itself the largest retail landlord in Beverly Hills, with 350,000 square feet of owned space in the glitzy district. The firm — with a $12 billion portfolio of 15 million square feet across 100 buildings in the U.S. and Canada — announced in June it plans to deploy $750 million over the next two years into best-in-class retail, hospitality and distressed debt.
Ashkenazy Acquisitions "continues to demonstrate an uncanny ability to close on iconic assets with unparalleled speed,” said a statement from Jay Luchs, executive vice chairman at Newmark, who represented the buyer in a deal that happened in seven days.
The sale comes almost exactly one year after Saks Global purchased Neiman Marcus in a $2.7 billion deal. In the months since, department stores have had to contend with inflationary concerns among consumers and competition from sellers of secondhand wares.
Still, U.S. retail real estate transactions are picking up, with sales volume climbing 10% in the past year to $70 billion, according to CoStar data. In Los Angeles, retail property sales have climbed 25% to $4 billion in the past year.
Trading trophy properties
The Beverly Hills deal is the latest high-profile example of Saks selling off properties.
The company in September sold a Neiman Marcus store at The Shops at Willow Bend in Plano, Texas, and is participating in a potential redevelopment of its downtown Dallas flagship. The company still owns or has stakes in 30 properties across the U.S., according to CoStar data, but it is considering possible deals, records indicate.
Meanwhile, Saks Global last month announced plans to close 10 of its Saks Off 5th outlet stores.
While Saks Global is on a disposition spree, Ashkenazy is in expansion mode.
In August, Ashkenazy paid $72 million for an open-air shopping center in the New York City borough of Queens, and this month it paid $60 million for a 580,000-square-foot shopping center southwest of Chicago.
Ashkenazy's ownership
The Beverly Hills deal expands Ashkenazy’s footprint in one of the world’s most expensive luxury retail corridors.
The firm now controls roughly 350,000 square feet of retail space in Beverly Hills, including a Saks Fifth Avenue women's collection building a few doors away at 9570 Wilshire Blvd. that it acquired in 2021 and the Beverly Connection open-air center that it bought in 2014, and where it recently landed a Bloomingdale’s Outlet as a tenant.
Ashkenazy’s record has not been without turbulence.
Its former Barneys New York flagship at 660 Madison Ave. in Manhattan has remained vacant since that retailer’s bankruptcy filing in 2019. Ashkenazy also sold its long-term lease at Boston’s Faneuil Hall in 2024 after years of operational challenges, and it lost control of Washington, D.C.’s Union Station following a lender-initiated foreclosure.
Beverly Hills retail
The transaction lands as Beverly Hills’ luxury retail market undergoes a broader reset. Developers and brands are leaning into experiential retail even as high-end spending slows and vacancies inch higher.
The most ambitious example is One Beverly Hills, a $10 billion mixed-use project that will bring 200,000 square feet of retail and dining alongside hotels, residences and 10 acres of botanical gardens.
The project broke ground last year and is targeting a phased opening starting in 2027, ahead of the 2028 Olympics.
Meanwhile, LVMH has proposed a sprawling Louis Vuitton flagship at Rodeo Drive and Santa Monica Boulevard, complete with restaurants, a brand museum and a rooftop garden designed by Frank Gehry.
Despite the momentum, headwinds remain. Retail vacancy in Beverly Hills rose to 8% from 7% a year ago, above the U.S. average of 4.3%, according to CoStar data.
Even so, Rodeo Drive remains one of the world’s most expensive shopping streets, with average annual rents reaching $1,100 per square foot in 2024, second only to New York’s Fifth Avenue.