French luxury house Kering, parent of high-end brands including Gucci and Balenciaga, has bought a retail property on Manhattan’s glitzy Fifth Avenue for $963 million as part of a string of property purchases in high-profile shopping areas around the world.

Kering acquired the 115,000-square-foot, multilevel luxury retail space located at 715-717 Fifth Ave. on the southeast corner of 56th Street, the Paris-based company said Monday in a statement.

“With this transaction, Kering acquires exceptional retail locations on one of the world’s most iconic avenues,” Kering said. “This investment represents a further step in Kering’s selective real estate strategy, aimed at securing key highly desirable locations.”

The property was sold by Jeff Sutton, founder and president of Wharton Properties, and Manhattan's largest office landlord, SL Green Realty, which had a stake of about 11%, according to Evercore ISI analyst Steve Sakwa, adding the deal commanded a whopping nearly $8,400 per square foot.

The deal added to Kering’s recently acquired prime properties on Avenue Montaigne and Rue de Castiglione in Paris, Kering said, adding its real estate portfolio includes landmark properties in Tokyo’s Omotesando district, and the Hôtel de Nocé housing luxury jewelry and watch brand Boucheron’s Paris flagship store.

Kering’s purchase follows that of Italian fashion house Prada’s recent announcement that it’s buying the Fifth Avenue building that houses its flagship at 724 Fifth Ave. for $425 million, the top end of what the property was valued at by appraisers. Prada was said to have also picked up 720 Fifth Ave. for about $410 million.

The purchases comes as a Cushman & Wakefield study in November found the stretch of Fifth Avenue just south of Central Park has retained its top ranking as the world’s most expensive retail destination.

The two luxury houses aren’t the only ones shopping New York’s retail real estate. Hyundai Motor America, a unit of Korean automaker Hyundai, last year bought a three-story building located at 500 W. 14th St. in the trendy Meatpacking District. The property is across the street from Genesis House, a showroom, fine dining and event space dedicated to its high-end vehicle brand.

Japanese specialty coffee company Geshary last year bought 560 Fifth Ave. at the corner of 46th Street for $38 million and paid nearly $2,800 per square foot, which brokerage firm Colliers said represented at the time the highest post-pandemic price per square foot for a full building on the famed shopping stretch.

The deals took place as Manhattan’s retail scene shows signs of rebounding from the pandemic. While Manhattan retail rent in the second half of 2023 still averaged 20% to 30% below its pre-pandemic levels in nearly all shopping corridors, hurt in part by lower tourism and office visits that still trail 2019 levels, average asking rents rose year-over-year during the second half in 12 of the 17 corridors, according to a study released Monday by trade group the Real Estate Board of New York.

“While still significantly below 2019 levels, the Manhattan retail market is showing signs of resurgence.” REBNY’s Director of Market Data and Policy Keith DeCoster said in the statement. “With slow but steady growth in tourism activity, commuter foot traffic and office visitations, retailers are absorbing larger footprints and landlord concessions are becoming less common.”

Eastdil Secured represented Sutton in the deal.