Aman New York’s $50M buyer linked to Meta

The buyer who plunked down more than $50 million for a full-floor condominium unit at the Crown Building hasn’t been fully unmasked, but records suggest they have ties to a familiar name. 

The limited liability company responsible for the $50.6 million deal at Vlad Doronin’s Aman New York Residences is connected to financial executive Tom van Loben Sels, Crain’s reported. Van Loben Sels is the director of A7P Trust and a partner at Apercen Partners.

Apercen is at the crux of the mystery. The company is a tax consulting firm based in Palo Alto, but it has a history of handling real estate transactions on behalf of leaders at Meta and Facebook, including Mark Zuckerberg himself.

Van Loben Sels signed the deed on the $22.3 million acquisition of 152 West 12th Street in 2015. Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes went on to live in the townhouse before selling it at a loss in 2020.

In 2016, Apercen was connected to multiple townhouse purchases in Greenwich Village, later occupied by Facebook founding president Sean Parker. In 2018, van Loben Sels was involved in a $30 million purchase of 152 Elizabeth Street, eventually occupied by former Facebook executive Matt Cohler.

For now, the occupant of the condo will remain a heavily guarded secret; van Loben Sels declined to comment to Crain’s.

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Unit 23A at 730 Fifth Avenue sold for $6 million below its asking price. The 6,300-square-foot apartment — which has a library, home theater and 11-foot ceilings — traded for $8,000 per square foot.

When the unit went into contract last month, the building had closed sales for 17 of its 22 units at an average of $7,700 per square foot. The Aman’s amenities include a three-story spa, fitness center, two restaurants and a 67-foot indoor swimming pool. 

Doronin’s OKO Group teamed with Michael Shvo to purchase the office portion of the property for $475 million in 2015. Shvo left the project two years later while maintaining a small stake.

— Holden Walter-Warner