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Can Joe Sitt survive a retail apocalypse?
As Manhattan luxury retail takes a dive, some wonder if the firm’s chief can keep his head above the tide
From the June issue: It took Joe Sitt less than 30 minutes to agree to pay Aby Rosen $132 million for a trio of buildings at 516-520 Fifth Avenue in 2011. It was a rapid-fire deal even for the Thor Equities CEO — who one friend described as New York real estate’s version of the Tasmanian Devil.
“He’s really fast, and I love fast people who can be decisive in the moment,” Rosen, co-founder of RFR Holding, told The Real Deal. “He called me up, and I gave him the price. He said, ‘I’ll call you back in 20 minutes.’ That same day, we signed the contract.”
Rosen described Sitt as one of the gutsiest players in the business: Someone who knows what he wants and who goes after it relentlessly.