DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — THE ICONIC MACY’S BUILDING in Downtown Brooklyn was sold, reports The Real Deal. A group of investors with real estate mogul Al Laboz’s United American Land has purchased the 440,000-square-foot Macy’s space for an undisclosed price. Laboz and his partners, Isaac Chera of Crown Acquisitions and the Chehabar family of the Jackson Group, plan to redevelop the historic property at 422 Fulton Street. This deal seems to seal the closure of Macy’s, which real estate experts anticipated after Macy’s announced its plans to close 150 of its stores by 2026, according to The Real Deal, which reported that “Macy’s real estate is worth more than the company’s $4.6 billion market capitalization.” 

Tishman Speyer, which owned the building, partnered with Macy’s to bring the famous name, immortalized in movies, to Brooklyn. The New York Times pointed out in a 2019 story that the city never granted the building at 422 Fulton St. landmark status, which would have protected​ it from real estate tycoons, even though the site is significant to the borough’s merchant history.

Abraham & Straus was originally founded in 1865 further down at 285 Fulton St. The Straus family had a partnership with Macy’s as early as 1888, but A&S didn’t become part of Macy’s until much later.