SEE ALSO: NYC\u2019s Former Bungalow 8 Nightclub Set to Become Luxury Housing<\/a><\/p>\n Sigoura, a 49-year-old married father of four and a 2001 graduate of the Cardozo School of Law \u2014 his first day at law firm Greenberg Traurig was on Sept. 10 of that year \u2014 had planned to start his career in the real estate department. He would instead first spend about two years in Greenberg Traurig\u2019s litigation practice. It was not an area he wanted to focus his career on, as he\u2019d always had a passion and an interest in real estate.\u00a0<\/p>\n Eventually, Sigoura would go on to establish a career in real estate that would be defined by impressive deals, legendary mentors and iconic buildings.<\/p>\n Commercial Observer recently caught up with Sigoura to discuss his career beginnings, the founding of Legion, the projects his firm is involved in, and his thoughts on the Manhattan luxury condominium market in general.\u00a0<\/p>\n This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u00a0<\/p>\n Commercial Observer: How did you go from litigation law to real estate?<\/p>\n Victor Sigoura: I started as a first-year associate at Greenberg Traurig and, prior to officially starting, I was slated to work in the firm\u2019s real estate department. But, at that time, real estate was pretty slow, and they needed people in the litigation department. I think that everything happens in life for a good reason. So I said, \u201cYou know what? I\u2019ll go into the litigation department to start.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n I ended up getting close with a securities litigation partner, and I didn\u2019t like the concept of litigation that goes on for 10, 12, 15 years sometimes, and so I gravitated to this securities litigation partner, and he and I ended up working closely together for about two years. The good part of that was that it was a lot of mediations and arbitrations. So it was more about resolving lawsuits.\u00a0<\/p>\n I had a really great experience there, but I had always wanted to be in real estate and thought I could use the law as a springboard to that. While I was in the litigation department, I stayed in touch with people I had known in real estate circles. And I ended up bringing some business to the firm, which for a first- or second-year associate is not that common, and I stayed in touch with the real estate people.<\/p>\n So, finally, after about two years, I went to the real estate partner at the time, and I said, \u201cI brought in some business. And frankly, I don\u2019t know much about real estate, but, if I knew more, maybe I could bring in more business.\u201d Sure enough, I moved into the real estate department. One of my first deals that I worked on as an associate was actually the acquisition of the Plaza Hotel by Miki Naftali\u2019s El Ad Group.<\/p>\n What did working on the $675 million sale of the Plaza Hotel in 2004 teach you?<\/p>\n The Plaza deal was great in terms of getting that full exposure to a lot of different parts of development. Obviously, we were renovating the entire building, but it contained a whole bunch of different components.<\/p>\n We had residential condos, we had retail, and we had a hotel. I was working on all parts of it,\u00a0 and so I got great exposure to all those different parts of real estate. The most challenging part of that was trying to figure out the retail component because the retail \u2014 and what today is a food hall \u2014 was all below grade. And we had this challenge with all of this retail space. That was because we took a very large hotel and we lessened the amount of rooms, and increased the residential side. And so we had a challenge of figuring out how the retail could work.\u00a0<\/p>\n So there were some starts and stops with that. It wasn\u2019t successful right off the bat, but, when we decided to go to a food hall concept, it was really successful.<\/p>\n I spent a lot of time going through the landmarks process. I spent a lot of time working with the unions on the hotel side. I spent a lot of time working with Fairmont, who was the management company of the Plaza Hotel. And, again, a lot of time on retail and food and beverage. So I really got a very broad view of real estate development.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t What was the inspiration for you to found Legion Investment Group?<\/p>\n In mid-2014 and early 2015 there was a lull in the market, and, after a while, I started to think maybe it was time to give this a shot on my own. I had previously gone through the process of founding something when I started with Naftali Group<\/a>, and seeing those growing pains.\u00a0<\/p>\n So I was aware of a lot of the things that I needed to do and be prepared for. And I thought that would be a great challenge.<\/p>\n Where did the name come from?<\/p>\n I was reading a book about leadership and I cannot remember the name, but it was around the time I was starting the company. I remember that in a particular part of the book the author was discussing how he\u2019d gone to visit Ralph Lauren [the firm]. He was describing the visit and how successful Ralph Lauren was, and, as he was describing it, he said it seemed like \u201ca legion of people working together towards a common goal.\u201d And I said, \u201cOh, well, that could be a good name for a company.\u201d<\/p>\n What was Legion\u2019s first project?<\/p>\n Just a little while after we started the company, we put together an assemblage at 109 East 79th Street, and as Legion, that was our first large condo development. We started it pre-COVID-19 and finished post-COVID. It was 145,000 square feet with 100 feet of frontage on 79th Street. We put together what was essentially five townhouses \u2014 well, four townhouses, plus one multifamily building with rent-stabilization \u2014 so it took us some time to put together.\u00a0<\/p>\n But, once we did, we built 32 units and we were pretty much sold out prior to our first temporary certificate of occupancy. We sold its units for a little bit over $4,000 a foot, and for a mid-block building that was unique. Today we\u2019ve turned over the building to the condo board, and everything seems to be going well.\u00a0After that, we acquired some other properties at other locations. Several of them were assemblages, like 1122 Madison Avenue.\u00a0<\/p>\n What was the assemblage process like for 1122 Madison Avenue, and what\u2019s the status of the project today?<\/p>\n It was a five-parcel assemblage<\/a>, plus air rights, plus dealing with a multifamily building with a rent-stabilized tenant. And, actually, that is a very nice story. There was a tenant, she was a 92-year-old woman, and she was living in that walkup building on either the third or fourth floor, and the steps were so steep. I mean, I walked up them and I was tired. So we worked with her nephew to move her into another, more accessible building, and her nephew sent us a very nice email thanking us for treating her so well.<\/p>\n But there was a lot to do to get us to the finish line. We bought air rights from a co-op adjacent to us. We bought a light and air easement from them. We bought air rights from another townhouse on 83rd Street. So it took us a while to assemble the property, but, thankfully, we did it.\u00a0<\/p>\n As of now, we\u2019ve completed the superstructure and we\u2019re enclosing the building, so the windows are almost entirely up right now. We hope to start delivering in the fall of next year. We opened up our sales office on Jan. 15 and we\u2019re selling very well. We have four units left to sell out of 26. After putting this together since 2018, it\u2019s really gratifying to see people reacting to the building this way.\u00a0<\/p>\n And one of the penthouses at 1122 Madison was sold for a record $89.5 million, correct?<\/p>\n Yes, that was very exciting for us! It is the highest-priced condo sale ever on the Upper East Side. However, there have been one or two co-ops that were priced higher. The buyer is a local New York buyer, and the unit itself has some very interesting features. It\u2019s about 9,300 square feet and has about 2,000 square feet of outdoor rooftop space. It has beautiful views of Central Park, and the living room has a 20-foot ceiling.<\/p>\n What\u2019s the story at 38 Gramercy Park East?<\/p>\n![\"Victor](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/VictorSigoura_551-WEB.jpg\" "\\"Legion")
\n\t\t\tPHOTO: Yvonne Albinowski\/For Commercial Observer\t\t<\/p>\n