WeWork’s Adam Neumann buys $35M spread on Irving Place

Adam Neumann, the co-founder and CEO of co-working space behemoth WeWork, has put together a swanky eyrie on Irving Place in Gramercy, The Real Deal has learned.

Neumann, whose company was most recently valued at $20 billion following a multibillion-dollar investment from Softbank, closed on four units at a seven-story Building On Irving Place, according to sources familiar with the deal. Property records show a buyer paid $18 million for a 4,400-square-foot duplex penthouse with four bedrooms, 5.5 bathrooms and a private roof terrace; $9.5 million for a 2,210-square-foot, three-bedroom pad on the fifth floor; and a combined $7.2 million for two units on the first floor.

Combining the upper units gives Neumann a triplex in one of Manhattan’s toniest neighborhoods, as well as a convenient guest spread on the first floor.

Records show that Neumann bought the penthouse and the first-floor units directly from the sponsor, Silverstone Property Group, and bought the fifth-floor unit from a Florida-based entity, Violet Properties LLC. Douglas Elliman had the penthouse listing.

Silverstone, a real estate investment company formed by Martin Nussbaum, now of Slate Property Group, and Josh Zegen and Brian Shatz, now of Madison Realty Capital, paid $18 million for the former rental property in June 2013. Sources familiar with the asset said Madison took control of it once the partners split up. They converted it into a condo with a total sellout of over $57 million, filings with the New York Attorney General show. With the Neumann deals, the project is sold out, the sources said.

Neumann, who Forbes estimates is worth $2.6 billion, is WeWork’s largest shareholder. He’s made other pricey residential purchases in recent years, including a $10.5 million Greenwich Village townhouse. While that property is being renovated, Neumann and his family have been renting a four-bedroom apartment at 18 Gramercy Park – right next to his new digs.