Warby Parker founder buys Village pad from tech CEO

Dave Gilboa, Brian O'Kelley and the terrace at the Bank Street apartment
Dave Gilboa, Brian O'Kelley and the terrace at the Bank Street apartment

Dave Gilboa, the monocle-wearing co-founder of trendy online eyewear purveyor Warby Parker, has got himself a nifty new West Village pad, three years after the launch of the company, according to public records filed with the city today.

The self-confessed daredevil — whose exploits include trekking across Antarctica and running a marathon in a flamingo costume, according to Warby Parker’s website – bought a two-bedroom penthouse unit at 166 Bank Street, a co-op building on the corner of West Street, for $3.99 million. The seller of the property was Brian O’Kelley, CEO of AppNexus, the online ad exchange company.

The 1,856-square-foot apartment had most recently been on the market for a month before going into contract in May, according to StreetEasy. It had been listed with Louise Phillips Forbes, Jonathan Schulz, Jason Miller and Richard Johnson of Halstead Property. It was also listed for a five month-stint last year by Sotheby’s International Realty.

O’Kelley had owned the property since 2007, records show, when he paid $3.68 million for it. Neither he nor Gilboa were immediately available for comment.

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Phillips Forbes told The Real Deal that O’Kelly had completed a more than year-long renovation of the property prior to selling, which included reconfiguring the unit to allow for more light. He repositioned the kitchen and the staircase to make for a much more open layout, she said.

“This was a sexy apartment with a sexy buyer and a sexy seller,” she quipped.

The property has a private, multi- tiered outdoor roof terrace with views of the Hudson River. The building has served as home to models Heidi Klum and Grace Jones, who still maintains a home there.

Gilboa’s move may add fuel to rumors that Warby Parker will be the first office tenant to sign up for Stellar Management’s One Soho Square, the 748,000-square-foot office tower project that aims to combine 161 Sixth Avenue and 233 Spring Street. If the company were to move to the new building, Gilboa would have a short walk down the Hudson River to work.