Background

720 Fifth Avenue (New York, NY)

Wells Hill was retained by the building’s owner, 720 Fifth Avenue Associates, to help with estate planning as applied to its real estate holdings. The client’s objective emerged as wishing to convert from an active role to a passive position, while maintaining a long-term ownership interest in the property. After analyzing all viable alternative transactions, a discipline the firm imposes on all of its engagements, Wells Hill negotiated a 30-year master lease of the building to an active, retail-oriented investor/operator. The resulting transaction achieved the owner’s goals of preserving a steady and safe stream of cash flow from the asset, positioning itself to enjoy appreciation in the value of the land, immunizing itself against operating risk and relieving itself of ongoing capital investment.