Mark Sonnino follows up 144 Duane sale with $27M office buy

From left: Leonard Steinberg, James Nelson and 555 West 25th Street
From left: Leonard Steinberg, James Nelson and 555 West 25th Street

Well-known hedge fund manager Mark Sonnino snapped up an office building at 555 West 25th Street in West Chelsea in an all-cash transaction for $27 million or $665 per square foot.

The deal comes just two months after Sonnino, a former George Soros protégé whose own hedge fund Satellite Capital closed amid the 2008 financial crisis, sold his former home at 144 Duane Street, for $43 million.

The Chelsea building, between Tenth and Eleventh avenues, totals 40,856 square feet. The building is fully occupied by artistic tenants, including the Dillon Gallery, a gallery showing works by international contemporary artists, and a handcrafted American furniture showroom by design firm Khouri Guzman Bunce.

The seller, Sharone Ben-Harosh of FlatRate Moving company, owned the property since 1998, according to public records. Records did not show how much he had paid for the building.

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James Nelson and Brock Emmetsberger of Massey Knakal of Massey Knakal Realty Services brokered the deal of behalf of Ben-Harosh. Leonard Steinberg and Yoko Sanada of Douglas Elliman represented the buyer.

Neither Ben-Haroshe nor Steinberg were immediately available for comment on the transaction. Sonnino could not be reached.

Rents at the building, built in 1891, are far below market rate, according to a statement from Massey Knakal.

“Rents throughout the property are roughly half of today’s market, so there is a tremendous amount of upside,” Emmetsberger said. “The building benefited from high loft ceilings and windows on four sides on the above floors, which made it very desirable.”