Schnabel’s wife buys Soho home for $5.5M

Olatz Schnabel, wife of artist and film director Julian Schnabel, paid $5.5 million for a three-story residential building at 38 King Street between Sixth Avenue and Varick Street in Soho.

Olatz Schnabel went into contract in September and closed on the purchase Dec. 16, property records published today show.

The contract signing came less than a week before rumors of a divorce surfaced in September.

The seller of the 4,256-square-foot unit was identified as Daniel Kellison, property records indicate.

The asking price for the Federal-style property was $6.5 million, according to a listing on the Web site of brokerage Prudential Douglas Elliman.

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Schnabel is a home textile and clothing designer with a four-year-old store called Olatz at 43 Clarkson Street, about four blocks west of the new townhouse.

A store employee said Schnabel was not available for comment.

The building, at 38 King Street, is registered as a four-unit apartment building in city records, but Department of Buildings records show permits were issued in November to make changes to convert the building to a single-family residence.

Julian Schnabel owns a building known as the Palazzo Chupi about 12 blocks away at 360 West 11th Street between Washington and West streets, where he recently cut his asking prices.