American Realty Capital chief buys UES townhouse for $14M

Nicholas Schorsch and 159 East 70th Street
Nicholas Schorsch and 159 East 70th Street

Nicholas Schorsch, the chairman and CEO of the major non-traded real estate investment trust American Realty Capital, has purchased a multi-family Federal-style red brick townhouse on the Upper East Side for $13.9 million, according to public records filed today with the city.

Schorsch and his wife Shelley bought the property, situated between Lexington and Third avenues, from media mogul and electronic music titan Robert F.X. Sillerman, the head of SFX Entertainment, which owns electronic dance music promoters and companies. “

The property, a 4,892-square-foot, four-story building with six residential units, does not appear to have been publicly listed. It comes with 2,747 square feet of unused air rights, according to PropertyShark.

Sillerman acquired the property for $2.4 million in 2009. At the time, he already owned the 36-foot-wide townhouse next door, which had formerly been home to Condé Nast owner S.I. Newhouse Jr. Sillerman still owns that property, at 157 East 70th Street, records show.

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Schorsch’s plans for the property were not immediately clear. Neither he nor Sillerman could immediately be reached for comment.

Schorsch’s American Realty Capital, the most aggressive player in the non-traded REIT arena, raised $3.6 billion in capital in the first half of 2013 and has been actively acquiring properties. The New York-based firm is in contract to buy 40 single-tenant U.S. office properties in 20 states for a total $416.5 million, according to news reports.

He and his wife have had some bad luck with their personal properties in the past. In 2010, a farm worker at an historic plantation they own in Virginia, dubbed Mount Pleasant Farm, was arrested for allegedly exploding a pipe bomb on the premises.