New York City-based real estate investment and development firm Sioni Group has acquired a 12-story office building in Manhattan\u2019s Flatiron District for $31 million, according to city records.<\/p>\n
Sioni, which operates a mostly housing portfolio, purchased 38 West 21st Street from Jack Vogel Associates<\/a>, according to a Monday deed filing in property records<\/a>. Jack Vogel Associates has owned the property since 1968.\u00a0<\/p>\n SEE ALSO: Historic Queens Bowling Alley Trades for $45M to Multifamily JV<\/a><\/p>\n Marci Kaufman, who signed the deal on behalf of Jack Vogel Associates, could not be reached for comment. Payman Yadidi of Sioni Group<\/a> signed the deal for the buyer, records show.<\/p>\n BKREA<\/a>\u2018s Bob Knakal represented the seller in the transaction alongside Faraz Cheema and Ryan Candel. BKREA listed the 1908-built property within the Ladies\u2019 Mile Historic District as a candidate for office-to-residential conversion.<\/p>\n But while office-to-residential may be an option, demand for office may finally be winning out over the trend, according to Knakal.<\/p>\n \u201cFor four or five months, every single buyer wanted to do a residential conversion, and for the last three weeks of marketing we had five office investors that kept leapfrogging over each other, and it ended up getting very, very advantageous for the seller because of that competition,\u201d Knakal told Commercial Observer.<\/p>\n \u201cThe lesson from it is that the meaty part of the bell curve in terms of office-to-residential conversion is in the rearview mirror at this point,\u201d Knakal added. \u201cThat\u2019s not to say they still won\u2019t go on \u2014 office-to-residential conversions have been around for decades and will continue to be around for decades \u2014 but the highest volume within that space is behind us now.\u201d<\/p>\n Sioni Group was one of those buyers looking to keep the building as office and will be renovating it as such, according to Knakal.<\/p>\n Sioni Group, which also operates as Sioni Capital, acquired the building on 21st Street \u200b\u200bbetween Fifth Avenue and Avenue of the Americas with a $21 million loan from Valley National Bank<\/a>, property records indicate.<\/p>\n Sioni Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n \u201cBetween positive absorption and these conversions, we\u2019ve gotten from 20 percent vacancy to about a 12 percent vacancy, and that is getting close to equilibrium,\u201d Knakal said. \u201cActivity in the office sector has picked up very considerably.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear if the building is leased to any office or retail tenants.<\/p>\n