My 25 minutes with the enigmatic Stefan Soloviev

My first conversation with Stefan Soloviev was an accident. It stemmed from a plausibly innocent email I sent to the public relations agency representing the Soloviev Group and its enigmatic leader.

I was inquiring about a press release announcing that Tikehau Capital had leased 23,000 square feet at 9 West 57th Street, Soloviev’s most lucrative property.

“This long-term lease marks a major milestone for Stefan Soloviev, chairman of the Soloviev Group, who predicted the building would reach full occupancy during a live interview less than a year ago,” the release said.

A quote from Soloviev followed: “Reaching this level of occupancy in less than one year has been especially noteworthy given the historically challenging leasing environment for commercial real estate.”

I wanted to know: What milestone? What level of occupancy?

The release didn’t actually say the building was full. Turns out, it isn’t.

“Ninety-six percent,” Soloviev clarified in a phone interview.

This is not a gotcha story. The Real Deal doesn’t even cover “milestone” announcements. Nor do we report New York City office leases under 30,000 square feet.

I just wanted clarity on the building’s occupancy, given the PR firm’s slippery phrasing — something I’d seen often in my previous life covering politics.

But when the firm told me Soloviev wanted to talk, I said yes because you never know what Stefan Soloviev will say.

I also wanted to ask about Long Island’s North Fork, where he’s not only the largest landowner but a man of mystery. It’s a combination that makes the townsfolk nervous. They fear he will wake up one morning and start turning his farmland into subdivisions.

As it happens, when Soloviev called I was across the road from one of the ubiquitous blue signs marking the Soloviev Group’s North Fork territory. But we started the conversation with his trophy Manhattan office building.

Only two of 50 floors at 9 West 57th Street remain available, he said. The asking rent for the 48th floor is north of $200 per square foot, which means the whole level will cost you about $7 million a year.

“It’s the most valuable available commercial real estate in New York City right now,” he said.

Owners of some other office towers would disagree. Space at SL Green’s One Vanderbilt, for example, is listed at $252 per square foot. But the owner’s website says only 7,134 square feet on the 54th floor is available. Soloviev noted his floor plates are 33,000 square feet.

The scion appears to be doing what needed to be done with the multi-billion-dollar portfolio (and huge estate tax liability) Soloviev inherited from his never-sell father, Sheldon Solow. He sold a big chunk of it to pay Uncle Sam and has worked to fill 9 West 57th, which had a lot of cavities. It’s not clear why there were so many, but Solow was notoriously picky about which tenants he allowed there.

Soloviev is a bit more flexible, although some of his father’s philosophy seems to have rubbed off. “The upper floor has got to be the right company and at the right price,” he said.

Real estate is not the love of Soloviev’s life; that would be grain. He’s passionate about growing and transporting commodities. At The Real Deal’s New York Forum last year, he left the impression that the happiest day of his life was spent loading a boxcar, even if the experience left him with a nasty gash on his hand.

Living the life of a New York City real estate magnate is not so much a privilege as an obligation for Soloviev, the result of Solow grooming his semi-reluctant son for the job and then bequeathing the empire to him. Soloviev had handed back his dad’s Americanized name, but accepted the properties.

One can imagine that Soloviev’s education journey through no fewer than four of the city’s elite prep schools — Horace Mann, Dwight, Trinity-Pawling and Columbia Prep — was not borne of fondness for stuffy institutions with overindulged heirs and heiresses. As soon as he could escape that world, he moved west, to the Grain Belt.

Soloviev lived there for years and would have remained if not called back by the family business. Back in New York, the closest thing he could find to his chosen lifestyle was in East Hampton. He bought 32 acres and grew corn. “I planted the whole field myself,” he said. “What I really loved to do back then was be on a tractor.”

Three or four days a week he would get in his car at 8 a.m. and go to the city, timing the trip to arrive just after rush hour. At 7:30 p.m., he’d head back to East Hampton.

“I lived there and raised my family there for 20 years, and commuted to New York City before the traffic got insane,” he said. “It was a magical experience to live out there during the week, when there’s nobody. Not one light on. Every house is completely dark.”

But the pandemic changed East Hampton’s vibe.

“Covid came, and people started doing remote work out there,” he said. “The reason I left is I didn’t have the town to myself.”

His time in the Hamptons led to his investment in the North Fork, which he had been visiting annually with a friend.

“We would look at the farmland, and the price was so low,” he recalled. “Finally in 2016, there was enough property where I thought if I grabbed it, I won’t have to bid against myself.”

He used Farm Credit loans. “The advantage you got, obviously, was development rights,” Soloviev said. But he assured North Forkers need not worry that he will cover the landscape with tract homes.

“We’ll build a couple homes, nothing major,” he said. “Anything we build will be a reflection of the Soloviev Group — tasteful.”

He noted that development rights for a lot of his North Fork land were sold long ago. An early purchase in Orient Point has just 3.5 buildable acres out of 29.

In any case, Soloviev said he doesn’t want to turn the peninsula into the one he left.

“I respect the area — look at what happened to East Hampton,” he said. “Every field … all filled up with homes.”

The North Fork, with fertile soil and more sun than anywhere else in the state, is known for vineyards and wineries, and Soloviev is part of that. His land provides materials for his landscaping business and complements the Northern California wing of his wine business, Krissie Vineyards.

The reds will come from California and the whites from the North Fork operation, centered at Peconic Bay Vineyards in Cutchogue, where he planted 20 acres of vineyards in 2022. Soloviev said he plans to keep Peconic in the name.

Locals have been more focused on the hotel he plans there, a project that dates back to at least 2021. His former wife, Stacey Soloviev, was in charge of that but Soloviev has handed the reins to his son Hayden, a student at New York University. He’s studying abroad at the moment, so no action appears imminent.

“All of our ag land will either be vineyard or landscaping material — and we have some fruit,” Soloviev said. “And we are going to build homes. We’re not going to rush into anything. It will all be very tasteful and unique.”

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