Jeff Sutton, SL Green Sell 690 Madison Avenue to Luxury Retail Operator Richemont

Jeff Sutton’s Wharton Properties has sold another retail building to the occupant already in place for $54.5 million, according to a Monday announcement.

Swiss luxury fashion retailer Richemont bought the five-story retail building at 690 Madison Avenue — which it leases entirely through French luxury jewelry brand Van Cleef & Arpels — from Sutton and his partner, SL Green Realty.

While SL Green and Sutton announced the sale in a Monday announcement, they declined to provide the buyer for the transaction. PincusCo was first to report the buyer’s identity.

The sale plays on some of Sutton’s success seen at the turn of 2024, when he made almost $2 billion offloading properties to longtime tenants in Midtown.

“The sale of 690 Madison Avenue underscores the continued trend of significant demand for flagship locations occupied by high-end retail users along Manhattan’s finest retail corridors,” Harrison Sitomer, president and chief investment officer at SL Green, said in a statement. “We’re proud to have positioned the asset to an owner that shares our long-term vision.”

Gary Phillips and Will Silverman of Eastdil Secured were the brokers on the deal to sell the 7,850-square-foot building on the corner of Madison Avenue and East 62nd Street. 

Phillips and Silverman declined to comment, while a spokesperson for Richemont did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Sutton bought his stake in the Upper East Side building for $34 million in December 2024, before it was listed roughly six months later alongside 110 Greene Street in SoHo for a combined roughly $300 million.

Sutton solidified his position as real estate royalty a little over two years ago by netting $1.8 billion on sales of three properties to Prada and Kering, signaling an unrealized strength in the retail market coming out of COVID.

Mark Hallum can be reached at mhallum@commercialobserver.com.