Lehmann Maupin pays “record-breaking price” for gallery space at the Getty

Art gallery Lehmann Maupin closed on the gallery space at the Getty condominium development in West Chelsea, paying $27 million, records filed with the city Monday show. The signatory on the deed is Ziggy Rutan, a Florida-based developer and real estate consultant who represented the Lehmann Maupin on the purchase.

The property, one of West Side’s most extravagant boutique condos where the top floor triplex recently sold for $59 million, is the product of a joint venture by developers Victor Group and Michael Shvo.

The gallery space Lehmann Maupin bought occupies 6,100 square feet on the building’s first and second floors, Shvo confirmed to The Real Deal. He described the sale, which comes out to about $4,400 a square foot, as “a record breaking price for West Chelsea.”

In addition to Lehmann Maupin, the third and fourth floors at the Getty will be home to Blackstone executive J. Tomilson Hill’s private art collection, which is set to open in September.

Rutan did not immediately respond to requests for comment, nor did representatives for Victor Group. Shvo pleaded guilty last week to tax evasion charges and agreed to a $3.5 million settlement payment.

Rutan, according to his website, developed a handful of buildings in Washington, DC and New York during the 1990s, including the restoration of 109 Prince Street in Soho. In more recent years he advised art dealer Tony Shafrazi in selecting gallery space at 740 Hicks Street in Brooklyn, court records show.

Last week’s reported $59 million penthouse sale at the Getty is the most expensive residential sale ever in Downtown Manhattan.